Statements made in this article are alleged by various reputable media sources and are simply compiled into one article. The opinions expressed by the writer are theirs alone and do not reflect that of the EBU or any broadcaster.
In 1956, the EBU formed the Eurovision Song Contest with the aim of uniting a post-war Europe through creative endeavours. Fittingly, the contest was won by the politically neutral Switzerland that year.
However, almost 70 years later, the same years that have seen a Swiss victory and host city have also seen the contest thrown into greater scrutiny than ever before. While 2025 saw the EBU reinforce their commitment to making Eurovision an apolitical event, they are now facing calls to change their voting system following allegations of Israeli government involvement in their televote win, as well as calls from broadcasters for a closer look at the voting process and Israel’s participation in the contest.
In this article, we explore the lengths the EBU has gone to in order to maintain neutrality, as well as Israel’s involvement in the contest, and how this approach could bring about an end to the Eurovision Song Contest as we know it.
Eurovision 2024: Political Lyrics, Harassment and Intimidation
Israel’s participation in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest was always going to be mired in controversy, with many querying why they did not face a similar ban to Russia in 2022 and calling for viewers to boycott the competition. This was only compounded when it was revealed that their entry, then titled ‘October Rain’, would be forced by the EBU to undergo extensive rewrites, following accusations that it explicitly referred to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7th October and thus did not comply with the EBU’s rule that all Eurovison “lyrics and performances must avoid political […] content.” A second song, ‘Dance Forever’, was also rejected on similar grounds.
The changing of ‘October Rain’ to ‘Hurricane’, as well as alterations to some of its more contentious lyrics, did little to convince people of its neutrality. While songwriter Keren Peles said the song was about “the importance of strength in tough moments” and inspired by her recent divorce, its other songwriter Avi Ohayon made statements which contradicted this, telling Israeli news outlet ynet “we knew we were going to write about the situation […] We tried to do it in a way as subtle as we can, with a subtext.” Similarly, the track’s singer Eden Golan told The Times of Israel “because of [the song’s] meaning […] we can bring everything we’re feeling, and everything the country is going through, in those three minutes. To speak through the song to the world.”
At the contest in May, pro-Palestinian protests occurred outside the Malmö Arena and Eden Golan was booed continuously throughout her live performances of ‘Hurricane’, with BBC’s commentator Graham Norton remarking on the latter during her performance in the final. While officials at the EBU had said they would not censor the crowd if Golan was booed, others noted that the noise of the crowds on live broadcasts appeared comparatively muted to footage filmed by fans in the arena, with many accusing the EBU of implementing ‘anti-booing technology’, which had also been deployed during Russia’s performance back in 2015.
Tensions surrounding Israel’s participation were further heightened when it was revealed that artists, participating broadcasters and members of the press were alleging harassment from Israeli broadcaster KAN. 16 delegations had made complaints to the EBU about the atmosphere generated from KAN’s presence and the impact this had on participating artists; 6 delegations were in crisis talks with the EBU just 25 minutes ahead of the 2024 Grand Final with some even threatening withdrawal.
One such delegation was Ireland’s RTÉ. Prior to the competition, Irish representative Bambie Thug had called for Israel’s withdrawal from the contest and, along with other participating artists, had signed an open letter calling for “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” in Gaza. They went further during their first dress rehearsal of the song ‘Doomsday Blue’, which saw Bambie don the words “ceasefire” and “freedom for Palestine” on their face and leg in Ogham, an early Medieval script primarily used to denote the early Irish language. They were swiftly asked by the EBU to remove this in order “to protect the non-political nature of the event.”
Following this, during Bambie’s semi-final performance on Tuesday 7th May, KAN’s commentator was noted to have said of Bambie that they liked to “speak negatively about Israel […] But we can talk about that later. Prepare your curses.” This saw Bambie miss the flag parade during the afternoon rehearsal ahead of Saturday 11th May’s Grand Final in order to complain about the comments which they alleged had broken Eurovision rules.
Elsewhere, KAN were also alleged to have harassed members of the press, resulting in complaints from them. The day before the national final, during Eden Golan’s rehearsal ahead of the jury final, a Spanish journalist standing in the press pit twice shouted “Free Palestine!” The journalist was then berated, had threatening gestures made towards him, and was filmed and photographed without his consent by four Israeli journalists. This subsequently led to Spanish broadcaster RTVE calling for the EBU to safeguard journalists’ freedom of expression in a statement on social media: “the Spanish Eurovision delegation has conveyed to the EBU its commitment to freedom of the press and opinion […] it has asked the organiser of the contest to ensure its respect at Eurovision.”
Indeed, this has now been confirmed in a letter written by Chair of the EBU Reference Group Bakel Walden to KAN’s Head of Delegation Sharon Drikes which has been published by Spanish online newspaper El Diario. In the letter, which you can read in full here, KAN are reminded with regards to their comments about Bambie that according to the rules of the contest “commentators shall remain neutral and not make unduly discriminatory comments about the contestants or the songs.”
In this same letter, it is also revealed that various delegations had complained about the Israeli delegation engaging in “a rather intrusive, offensive and provocative manner” towards them which sees Walden remind Drikes that “Participating Broadcasters are all required to respect the filming rules applicable for delegations and the ESC Rules which set principles to be respected when filming backstage or in the Event premises. In particular, it is expected from Participating Broadcasters to respect privacy, provide fair coverage, avoid harmful or offensive content and […] not bring disrepute to the ESC.”
The letter concludes by informing KAN that the Israeli delegation has been moved to a separate area to “avoid further incidents and complains [sic]” and that further sanctions could be applied if further behaviour “harms the reputation and/or integrity of the shows”.
Calls for Neutrality and ‘Audio Sweetening’
Despite acknowledgement that KAN had broken several of the contest’s rules in 2024, Israel were permitted to compete in Eurovision 2025. In late January, Yuval Raphael was chosen through the singing competition HaKokhav HaBa to represent Israel with the song ‘New Day Will Rise’. Yuval had only began singing professionally a year prior to the participation; she was also a survivor of the Nova music festival attack on 7th October, which had been referenced in Golan’s song ‘October Rain’ before the EBU forced them to change the lyrics and song title.
Although KAN’s editor Eran Cicurel admitted that for Israel, Eurovision “has long been more than just a musical event; it is a critical arena for Israeli advocacy”, the EBU continued to affirm the contest’s status as a politically neutral event. Following an investigation into KAN’s actions in 2024, the EBU promised that “safe spaces” would be implemented for the 2025 contest where artists could not be filmed or photographed. Once again, Bakel Walden called for political neutrality in the contest, telling Swiss-German news publication Blick in an October 2024 interview, “We want an ESC in which everyone puts their heart and soul into it. We cannot solve the many wars and conflicts in the world during the ESC. But it is a strong statement if we treat each other fairly, peacefully and respectfully.”
This stance was reinforced through the first interval act in Eurovision 2025’s first semi-final ‘Made in Switzerland’ whose lyrics alleged that Eurovision, like Switzerland itself, is “non-political, strictly neutral, doesn’t matter if you’re good or brutal”.
And, so it seemed, it really didn’t matter. During that same semi-final, Spanish broadcaster RTVE shared the following message shortly before broadcast: “When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.”
In addition to this, during the show RTVE’s commentators referred to their recent calls for a debate with the EBU on Israel’s participation in the contest. The commentators also cited casualty figures from Gaza, including children. In response, the EBU wrote a letter to RTVE ahead of the show’s jury final on Friday 16th May where they reminded the broadcaster that “political statements that could compromise the contest’s neutrality” were prohibited and that “casualty figures have no place in an apolitical entertainment show”. They warned RTVE that further breaches could result in “punitive fines”.
Despite RTVE’s calls back in May 2024 for freedom of expression to be safeguarded, it has now been revealed that the EBU allegedly called for the broadcaster to censor the booing of Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl during the dress rehearsal of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in November 2024. When the broadcaster refused to do so, the EBU chose instead to omit Österdahl’s traditional confirmation of votes: this was also carried through to the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, with his trademark “You’re good to go!” instead being vocalised by the show’s hosts.
Additionally, there was speculation that technology had once again been implemented to suppress the sound of the audience during the 2025 contest. This was particularly apparent during Malta’s performance of the song ‘Serving’, where cries of the Maltese word ‘kant’ could not be heard during any of the live broadcasts: Miriana Conte had been forced to omit the word from both the song and its title, after the BBC levied a complaint about its resemblance to a swear word in accordance with Ofcom regulations. As well as this, there were discrepancies between what was reported in the arena during Yuval’s performances and what was heard on live broadcasts: numerous fans held Palestinian flags; video footage posted online depicted boos and whistles from the audience; following her grand final performance, Graham Norton noted that the reception in the arena had been “mixed”. However, despite this, fans noted that during the broadcasts all that could be heard were cheers and applause.
In response to allegations that anti-booing technology had been implemented, Eurovision officials issued a statement:
For the Eurovision Song Contest, the host broadcaster SRG SSR is working with the ‘audio sweetening’ method, which is common practice for major international productions […] This process helps to harmonise the sound of the transitions between moderations, video clips, and the individual acts and to create a consistent soundscape for the TV audience. It is used exclusively for the technical rounding off of the programme.
They also stressed that this method was used for all acts and that “the competition and its results are not affected in any way”.
Eurovision 2025: Israel’s Televote Win and Voting Manipulation Allegations
Despite continued protests around Israel’s involvement in the contest, the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest appeared to be going relatively smoothly. That is, until the televote sequence in the Grand Final on Saturday 17th May. Although Israel had earned 14th place with the juries with just 60 points, they earned 297 points from the televoting public, the highest of any competing entry that year. This saw Israel poised to win the contest until Austria’s televote score was revealed. JJ had earned first place and 258 points from jurors with his song ‘Wasted Love’; the addition of 178 points from the viewing public meant he was the overall winner.
Less than 24 hours after the Grand Final aired, RTVE announced that they, along with several other countries, would be requesting a debate on whether the current Eurovision voting process was optimal. Belgium, Iceland, Finland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Ireland would soon follow with Belgian broadcaster VRT revealing the Belgian televote figures from 2023-2025. Although Belgium recorded the lowest combined viewing figures for a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final since 2014 this year, their televotes were shown to have almost doubled since 2023, with 129,932 Belgians casting votes in 2023 compared to 220,554 in 2025. The Belgian televote awarded the maximum 12 points to Israel this year.
Amidst speculation that the televote had been manipulated in Israel’s favour, an investigation by Eurovision News Spotlight, published on Tuesday 20th May, found that an agency of the Israeli government deployed cross-platform advertising and used state social media accounts to directly target and encourage the public to vote for ‘New Day Will Rise’, reminding viewers they could vote for the entry up to 20 times.
Although promoting a country’s entry through advertising is permitted as per EBU rules, it has been noted in the article (which you can read in full here) that while other countries promoted their entry either through the artists’ social media pages or through the country’s broadcaster, no other country besides Israel did so through government agency involvement. The investigation revealed that a YouTube account created in April 2025 named @Vote4NewDayWillRise published 89 videos between 6th-16th May. The videos, which saw Yuval speaking in the languages of other participating broadcasters calling for viewers to vote for her entry, had amassed over 8.3 million views in total. Viewers also reported having seen these adverts during the live stream of the Grand Final on Eurovision’s official YouTube channel.
Eurovision News Spotlight’s investigation found that, while the YouTube account was not acknowledged to have any official government ties, analysis of the Google Ads Transparency Centre confirmed that they were placed by the verified account of the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, which describes itself as being “responsible for numerous marketing processes that include public and social campaigns for a wide range of topics.” Additionally, all promotion of Yuval and her entry omitted any mention of KAN, implying they were not involved in the campaign.
In response to Eurovision News Spotlight’s request for comment on their investigation, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest Martin Green said:
Our voting partner has confirmed that a valid vote was recorded in all countries participating in this year’s Grand Final and in the Rest of the World. The voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world and each country’s result is checked and verified by a huge team of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns. An independent compliance monitor reviews both jury and public vote data to ensure we have a valid result.
The Eurovision Song Contest’s rules are designed to ensure a fair and neutral competition. These rules do not prohibit participating broadcasters or third parties such as record labels or others from promoting their entries online and elsewhere, as long as such promotion does not instrumentalise the Contest or breach its editorial guidelines. Many delegations employ paid promotion campaigns to support the song, profile, and future careers of their artists.
What Can Be Done?
It is becoming increasingly apparent that, while the EBU remains dedicated to keeping the Eurovision Song Contest as a neutral, apolitical entertainment event, the current televote system allows public voting to be manipulated for political means. Therefore, despite Martin Green’s insistence that voting checks are robust and rules do not prohibit countries from using other means to promote their entries, the extent to which the promotion of ‘New Day Will Rise’ can be considered fair and neutral is up for debate.
Multiple broadcasters have called not only for a closer look at their own televote voting patterns this year but also an overhaul of Eurovision’s voting system in general, with some calling for a discussion on Israel’s continued participation in the contest. After having allowed the continued participation of Israel despite KAN’s behaviours in 2024, these broadcasters may be even less tolerant if their current concerns continue to be ignored or dismissed by the EBU.
Whether this results in the withdrawal of broadcasters remains to be seen but the time may come where it truly does matter if you’re good or brutal.
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