Divisions in Europe over Israel have been exposed at the boycott-hit Eurovision Song Contest, which gets under way on Tuesday.
The 70th anniversary of Eurovision, viewed in some quarters as an embodiment of European values, has been plagued by a boycott by five countries over Israel's participation in this year's event.
They include Spain and the Netherlands, historically among the event's main contributors. Slovenia will instead broadcast documentaries about Palestine on national television on Saturday, the day of the Eurovision finale. Ireland and Iceland are the other boycotting nations.
Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests are scheduled to be held outside the Eurovision venue in Vienna, fuelled by reactions to the Gaza war. Israel has also been suspected of breaking Eurovision voting rules.
Eurovision director Martin Green on Saturday issued a formal warning to Israeli broadcaster Kan over videos posted online by the country's entrant this year, Noam Bettan, with an instruction to “vote 10 times for Israel”.
Born to French parents in Israel, Bettan, 28, is in the eye of the storm despite doing his best to stay out of politics according to statements given to the media. He is the fifth favourite, with Finland currently tipped to win.
Unlike some past Israeli entrants, whose songs have referenced recent events in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Bettan says his offering, Italicise the song title Michelle (render as: Michelle)., is about a romantic relationship. The song has versions in Hebrew, French and English.
The 2024 contestant for Israel, Eden Golan, had to change the lyrics to her song Hurricane because it was viewed as referring too explicitly to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. The following year, Yuval Raphael sang about her experience as a survivor of the attacks with the ballad New Day Will Rise, with which Israel finished runner-up.
There has been speculation that the lyrics of Bettan's song may refer to Michelle Rukovicin, an Israeli soldier wounded in the October 7 attacks. But under another interpretation, it is a goodbye song dedicated to a woman described as “the queen of problems”.
Bettan has said his supportive team helped him disconnect from the external noise. “I’m surrounded by an incredible team who make sure to shout boos at me during rehearsals, so I’m prepared for it,” he told The Times of Israel. He is described as “reluctant – and largely not allowed” to discuss the political controversy surrounding Israel's participation in Eurovision.
The unprecedented boycott movement will be hard for organisers to ignore. The focus on Eurovision by pro-Palestine campaigners started in 2019 when Tel Aviv, Israel, hosted the contest.
Last year, the European Broadcasting Union shied away from calls to exclude Israel, but decided on new voting rules. The decision not to exclude Israel was welcomed by the UK, France and Germany.
One of the rule changes is to allow each public caller – identified by their payment method – to cast 10 votes for their favourite songs, half the number permitted last year.
Posts and photos on the X account run by Israel's Foreign Ministry on the day of last year's Eurovision semi-final encouraged people to vote for singer Yuval Raphael, with the message: “You can vote up to 20 times.”
In a recent interview, rules, but he did not name Israel but he did not name Israel, which says it plays by the rules.
“We saw some activity last year, which we could describe as disproportionate marketing and promotional activity, that we felt was out of synch with the nature of the show, so we put some rules in about that,” Mr Green said.
