The song “October Rain” by Israeli singer Aden Golan may be excluded from the Eurovision competition because it is political (Israeli press)
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is considering excluding the song “October Rain”, which was chosen to represent Israel in the “Eurovision 2024” competition, because it carries political connotations, which is prohibited in the competition.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said yesterday, Wednesday, February 21, 2024, that “the song, whose lyrics are in English with the exception of two phrases in Hebrew, and whose lyrics were written by Avi Ohion, Keren Pels, and Stav Biggar, is threatened with exclusion from the (Eurovision 2024) competition.”
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🇮🇱 According to Israelhayom media, the Israeli song for Eurovision 2024 will most likely be called "October Rain"
The song is mostly in English except for two lines in Hebrew #Eurovision #Israel pic.twitter.com/yTdJOXqoCr
— Eurovision Insider (@escinsiders) February 19, 2024
The Israeli newspaper added, “When the sword of the European Broadcasting Union is raised over the song that was chosen to represent Israel in (Eurovision 2024), it is important to remember the band that represented Croatia the previous year, or the winning song in 2016. When there are certain political positions, And messages are announced in one way or another, and appear on stage.”
The newspaper claimed that "excluding the song (October Rain) would be an example of selective implementation, even if it is possible to understand the pressure exerted on the production."
For his part, the Israeli Minister of Culture, Miki Zohar, said yesterday, Wednesday, through his account on the “X” platform, “The intention to exclude the Israeli song from the competition is tantamount to a scandal,” defending it as “a song expressing immediate populist and national feelings, not political ones.” His claim.
I'm not sure what's going on here - I'm talking to you רייתית.
I'm sorry, I don't know what to do, I don't know Please don't worry, don't worry.
- Miki Zohar on Facebook (@zoharm7) February 21, 2024
According to the newspaper, singer Aden Golan was supposed to perform the song on the Eurovision stage in the second part of the second semi-final of the European competition, which will be held next May 9 in Sweden.
On February 11, the deadline for submitting nominated songs for the competition ended, as 30 songs were submitted, and a committee from the Israeli Broadcasting Authority met on the evening of Saturday, February 17, and chose “October Rain” to represent Tel Aviv in the competition.
The song “October Rain” tells about the events of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which was carried out by Palestinian resistance factions against Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to what was published in Hebrew newspapers, if the European Broadcasting Union rejects the song “October Rain,” the alternative song nominated for participation will be the song “Unicorn” by singer Noa Kirill, composed by Mai Safdia and lyrics by Yanon Yahal.
A final decision is scheduled to be issued regarding whether or not to participate in the song before closing the door for participation to all countries on March 11. In the event that a decision is issued by the federation to exclude the song and Israel refuses not to send a new song before that date, Tel Aviv will not participate in the competition.
Israel joined the competition in 1973, and over the course of 50 years, it participated 45 times in the competition and won 4 times, the last of which was in Eurovision 2018 with the song “Game” performed by singer Netta Barzilai.
The Eurovision singer was killed in the Gaza war
On December 26, 2023, Israeli singer Shaul Greenglik was killed in battles in the Gaza Strip, a few days after he participated in the “Rising Star” talent show, in which the winner represents the State of Israel at Eurovision.
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A post shared by Shauli (@shauli_1)
Saul Greenglik was among the contestants participating in the audition stage of the talent show “Rising Star,” and he appeared on the program wearing an Israeli army uniform, while he was on leave from his mobilization for the war on the Gaza Strip.
Shaul passed the test, but chose not to complete the remaining stages of the competition and return to reserve service.
Demands to ban Israel's participation
This February, nearly 30 members of the European Parliament called on the European Broadcasting Union to implement the union’s standards and exclude Israel from the Eurovision 2024 music competition, similar to what happened with Russia, which has been banned from participating in the competition since 2022 due to the military operation in Ukraine. .
The countries of Iceland and Finland hinted at the possibility of boycotting the European competition, due to Israel’s participation and the continuation of the war on the Gaza Strip, according to what the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported.
What's next: When will we start in 2024?
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לידיעה המלאה >> https://t.co/SD2MmW1xMS @alon_fruchter (צילום: גטי אימג'ס) pic.twitter.com/h93axYoS6d
- Read more (@kann_news) December 24, 2023
In December 2023, the Icelandic Society of Composers and Songwriters asked its members not to participate in the European Song Contest unless Israel was banned, which the European Broadcasting Union rejected, stressing in a statement that the Eurovision Song Contest “remains a non-political event that unites audiences around the world.” Through music."
More than 1,400 Finnish artists joined Icelandic musicians in demanding that Israel be banned from participating in this year's Eurovision competition due to the war on Gaza.
The artists said that if Israel is not excluded from the competition, which will be held in the Swedish city of Malmo in May 2024, the Finnish broadcasting company must boycott the competition and refuse to send a Finnish entry.
“Giving a country that commits war crimes and continues its military occupation a public platform to polish its image in the name of music is not consistent with our values. At the same time, other participating countries end up offering their support to Israel’s policies,” said the petition, signed by Finland-based artists.
Among the artists who signed the petition are Finnish artists Olavi Usivirta, Palivas and Axel Ehnström, who represented Finland at the 2011 edition of Eurovision.
In 2019, the European Broadcasting Union, known as the European Broadcasting Union, decided to impose a financial penalty on the governmental “Icelandic Television Network” for violating Article 2.6 of the Union’s regulations, which stipulates that the authorities of each country participating in the competition are prohibited from interfering with the participating teams “to avoid any Politicization of the competition.”
Representatives of Iceland had raised the Palestinian flag during the final of the Eurovision competition, which was held in Tel Aviv in 2019, where members of the Icelandic singing group “Hatari” carried scarves bearing the Palestinian flag, which angered the Israeli Minister of Culture and she strongly criticized him.
American singer Madonna also sparked angry reactions from the Israelis, while performing as a guest of honor on the closing night, where a member of her band appeared with the Palestinian flag on her back, and another member placed the Israeli flag on his back.
In May 2016, the competition banned the raising of the flags of Palestine, Kosovo, the Basque Country, the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Donetsk, the Transnistrian region of Moldova, the Crimean Peninsula, and Northern Cyprus.
Eurovision is a singing competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union since 1956, and it is the largest non-sporting event in terms of the number of viewers, which in recent years has been estimated at between 100 and 600 million people around the world.
Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press + social networking sites