A new statement from the EBU confirms Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2024!

Israel can still take part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, organizers say again, despite calls for it to be excluded because of the war in Gaza, as it was with Russia in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine.

The EBU has once again confirmed Israel’s participation

The EBU in a new statement on Thursday, after checking all the facts and data, decided that Israel could participate in the upcoming song contest in Malmö, Sweden.

“The Eurovision song contest is a non-political music event and a competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments,” the EBU director general, Noel Curran, said in a statement.

Our governing bodies … did review the participants list for the 2024 contest and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster Kan met all the competition rules for this year and can participate, as it has for the past 50 years.

Israel and Russia two different cases

But Noel Curran does not stop at this statement, he also explains the reasons why the case of Israel’s participation in the Eurovision contest is not the same as that of Russia.

In the case of Russia, the Russian broadcasters themselves were suspended from the EBU due to their persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service values.

The relationship between Kan and the Israeli government is fundamentally different to the relationship that exists between those Russian members and the state, with the Israeli government in recent years threatening to close down the broadcaster.

Curran finally explained how the EBU followed other international organizations, such as sports federations, that kept Israel in their competitions.

Israel will be represented at Eurovision 2024 by Eden Golan, with a song to be announced in the coming weeks. The Israeli delegation this year will limit its appearances to a minimum for security reasons, even avoiding the parade on the turquoise carpet, one week before the competition.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: The Guardian