Israel's Eurovision 2024 representative Eden Golan
Eurovision was never meant to be like this. Yes, a festival of levity, humor, inclusivity and campiness with a side of music. But a toxic, politically charged, violent and dangerous powder keg? No. But that's exactly what happened in the Swedish city of Malmo amid growing dissatisfaction with Israel's presence in this year's competition.
Israeli contestant Eden Golan was booed on stage during a dress rehearsal on Wednesday, although her song Hurricane has since qualified for Saturday's final. But what's more worrying is what's happening outside the Malmo Arena. Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in the city's streets, lighting smoke bombs in the colors of the Palestinian flag and blocking the Oresund Bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen, where many fans were staying.
Armed police, with whom protesters have clashed, are stationed outside the Golan Hotel, where she is locked in her room when not performing. Ensuring the security of the Golan is being handled by Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet, who flew to Sweden to ensure its safety.
<р>The protests are caused by the deteriorating humanitarian situation and thousands of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip. Although the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organization hosting the event, has ruled that Israel is allowed to participate in the competition, many thousands believe otherwise, including, it appears, its fellow competitors. The situation shows no signs of calming down. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent Golan a message on social media, telling the 20-year-old she was successfully confronting a “terrible wave of anti-Semitism.” “Know that when people shout 'boo' at you, we shout 'hooray,'” he said.
But Israel has always had a difficult relationship with Eurovision, which it has won four times. Questions of geopolitics, identity and old-fashioned deception have colored his writing over the years. Some controversy arose over the simple question of why the country was allowed to participate in the competition at all—it doesn't take a degree in geography to understand that Israel is far from Europe. The answer is that Israel was allowed to join in 1973 because its state broadcaster was an active member of the EMU. Indeed, Eurovision has little to do with geography – Australia has participated nine times.
Izhar Cohen and his band Alphabeta, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Israel in 1978. Photo: Getty
The opening of the Israeli competition in Luxembourg was intense. This happened just seven months after the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, during which the Palestinian militant group Black September killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine other members hostage. Security in Luxembourg was so tight that the late Terry Wogan recalled that the venue manager advised spectators to remain seated to avoid being shot by snipers. You might think he was joking, but who knows.
The country had a hot streak in the late seventies, winning in both 1978 and 1979. Israel's first victory caused several problems in neighboring Jordan, however, where the authorities refused to broadcast an Israeli song, a cheerful number called A-Ba-Ni- “Ba” by Izhar Cohen and “Alphabet” (I recommend watching it, but you'll have to lie down later). Instead of showing the footage, Jordanian television instead showed an image of flowers. When Israel won, Jordan turned off the television broadcast altogether and announced that Belgium, which took second place, was victorious.
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and the Hamas attacks on Israel that preceded it on October 7 have stirred up deep and conflicting emotions that are usually anathema to singing competitions. Back in November, Israeli transgender singer Dana International, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 with the song Diva and has been a strong advocate for her identity, delivered a powerful message to her 115,000 Instagram followers.
Israeli Eurovision winner Dana International on stage in Tel Aviv, 2019 Photo: Rex
“Did you know that if you [LGBQT community] accidentally find yourself on the streets of Gaza, you will not get out alive? Did you know that Hamas [sic] sentences every LGBQT person to death by hanging (or worse)?” Dana wrote, adding: “If you don't condemn Hamas, you are anti-LGBQT, anti-women, and AGAINST THE PEACE. Liberate Palestine – from Hamas [sic].”
Her post sparked passionate and sometimes acrimonious debate among her followers. Just a few weeks earlier, Dana posted an old video of her beautifully choreographed performance of “Free,” in which she was surrounded by hundreds of colorfully dressed dancers. The contrast couldn't be greater.
Beyond the politics of Dana's November post, there is a broader issue of tolerance that is missing from the current debate. Eurovision has always stood for inclusivity and acceptance when it comes to its performers. It is these values that have allowed competition to thrive and thrive among once marginalized subcultures. But tolerance and acceptance – in the context of Golan's Eurovision performance – seem to be completely lost among protesters in Malmö this weekend.
Should an individual performer be a lightning rod for a much larger problem over which he has no control and for which he is not responsible? Anti-Israel critics have accused the country of “pinkwashing,” or using Eurovision as a cover for atrocities occurring in the Gaza Strip. But I think the 20-year-old singer, locked in her hotel room, feels differently.
Protesters demanding an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza outside the Eurovision Song Contest venue in Tel Aviv 2019. Photo: Anadolu
It has always been this way. Even when Israel hosted Eurovision, it was subject to protests. When she hosted the event in Tel Aviv in 2019 following her victory last year, there were protests in Jerusalem, where there were clashes between security forces and ultra-Orthodox Jews who objected to the final being held on Saturday. And in the West Bank and Haifa, an Israeli city with a significant Arab population, Palestinians held an alternative Eurovision called “Globalvision” featuring Palestinian singers in an attempt to draw attention to Israel's occupation of their territory.
But Eurovision has often been politicized, and Israel is far from alone in this feeling. Winners of the 1981 British tournament, Bucks Fizz, told me a few weeks ago that they were threatened by the IRA when they turned up in Dublin. The group was placed in a separate hotel from everyone else, each of them had a bodyguard outside their room, and the police accompanied them everywhere. After the victory, security was tightened. “Suddenly we were surrounded by all the guards and there was no one else to look after the rest of the participants. They thought: 'Britain have won, there will be problems,' said Bucks Fizz's Mike Nolan.
However, there is a year in which Israel's complicated relationship with Eurovision really came to the fore more than ever, largely due to its own song choices. In 2000, PingPong was chosen to represent Israel. The band's song was called Sameach (Hebrew for “be happy”) and was a blatant attempt at cheesy Europop in the style of Gina G (which actually sounds like a really bad rip-off of G's Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit). It was sung with gusto and a dubious attitude by smiling men and women who looked like they were collecting mickeys.
<р>Around the time of the 2000 competition, relations between Israel and Syria were delicate as the countries negotiated over the disputed Golan Heights territory. But in the song, PingPong sang about a man from Damascus who was dating an Israeli woman, and at the end of the dress rehearsal the band waved Israeli and Syrian flags, which they said were meant to mean peace. Back home, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was unhappy with the politicization of the context and advised PingPong not to repeat the move in the finale.
The group refused to change its routine and was disavowed by the IBA. They then repeated the trick in the finale. Hundreds of Israelis complained to the country's Channel One, politicians criticized the group, and the IBA accused them of causing “antagonism around the world.” Ping Pong finished in 22nd place and scored just seven points. Ping Pong competitor Roy “Chicky” Arad was, as the world later learned, a poet, artist and political activist. The whole thing looked like a Situationist artistic trick, something smart students might dream up in a pub.
The story of ping pong seems like a funny joke compared to what is happening today. There is a real danger that protests in Malmo will spoil the final of the tournament this weekend. Indeed, rarely has Eurovision been so torn by discontent. However, there are suggestions that anti-Israel sentiment may still remain outside the arena and not influence the voting patterns of judges and the public.
At the time of writing, despite everything, Israel is the bookmakers' second favorite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest after Croatia's Baby Lasagna. This result suggests that the Eurovision world is at least partially insulated from a world riven by hatred and division.
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