“You cannot prohibit a personal history of a competition,” News told NBC in a zoom interview earlier this month. “So you really get two by one,” he said, with a talented singer interpreting what sounds like “an old French chanson” matched with a story that makes it clear that the song is actually “both a personal trauma and a national trauma, and how you go out of this.”
But so Israel participates in several European sports leagues, its inclusion in Eurovision is an example of the Middle East Nation that sees itself as part of the European cultural community, an idea that Press-Barnathan is an “important part of the Israeli social imagination.”
‘It should be a happy occasion’
On Wednesday night, in the center of Basel, some 200 protesters demanded that Israel be expelled from Eurovision and for the end of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The crowd, some with Palestinian flags, marched silently along a street playing with music, said Associated Press.
For many critics, the inclusion of Israel in Eurovision is equivalent to accepting its military campaign, which has led to the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders for “crimes against humanity and war crimes”, charges that Israel denies.
Those who press so that the country is expelled from the contest, just as Russia was following its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, include former participants, more than 70 of which signed a joint letter earlier this month.
“It should be a happy occasion that Eurovision is finally in Switzerland, but it is not,” Lea Kobler, a Zurich protester in Basel in Basel. “How can we legitimately exclude Russia, but we are still welcoming Israel?”
The participation in Eurovision has long pushed the geographical limits of Europe itself. Although the contest began with seven countries in 1956, it has expanded greatly and now includes not only Israel, but also countries such as Georgia, Azerbaijan and even Australia.
Around the edges of the festival last year in Malmö, Sweden, the protests against the participation of Israel reached a peak. The police tracked with the pro-Palestinian protesters who tried to listen to pop music that sounded out of the stadium while fans aligned to enter.
This year in Basel, the protesters were very visible at the opening ceremony of the contest, with large Palestinian flags stirred in the crowd. There were some boos for Raphael as he walked on the carpet, and Israel’s X account published a video of a pro-Palestinian protester making a gesture that throws the throat in the Israeli delegation.
Brigitte Vogel, police spokesman in Basel, told NBC News in a statement sent by email: “The cantonal police are aware of the incident and will prepare a report for responsible processing authorities.”
“When the representation of the Israeli State continues, the EBU is normalizing and bleaching its crimes,” says the letter. “The EBU has already shown that it is able to take action, as in 2022, when it expelled Russia from the competition. We do not accept this double standard with respect to Israel.”
Some participating national broadcasters, including those of Spain, Iceland and Slovenia, have also questioned whether Israel should participate. The main leadership of the Irish station Rté met last week with the EBU to raise their own concerns.
In a statement sent by email, the EBU said that “it will continue to listen to all members. As we did in 2024, we will have a broader discussion when the contest concludes with all the participating stations to reflect on all aspects of this year’s event.”
More protests are expected when Israel competes in Thursday’s semifinal.
Participation in criticism, says Press-Barnathan, is a way for Israel to fight against its detractors. “It is the recoil against criticism, delegitimization, all that.” And for a domestic audience, he said, it is a way of saying: “We are still here. You know, we don’t go anywhere.”
Meanwhile, Swiss hosts may be waiting for their refusal to take sides, the contest goes out without too much controversy.
