I don't actually watch the EuroVision Song Contest - well, at least not since Terry Wogan stopped doing the UK commentary. His commentary was priceless.
No-one knows the opinions of the Israeli contestant, although the one of the writers of the Israeli entry, Keren Peles, has been critical of the current government.
Before going any further, Israel and Australia are allowed to participate, as is any country in the world. It's not a European contest, it's merely held and organised by the European Broadcasting Union. The only limit is the number of songs you could reasonably get into a single TV show.
EuroVision is meant to celebrate coming together. Why have contestants from countries that are doing the exact opposite?
Why did Ukraine win a few years ago? I would posit that it was mainly a sympathy vote, which is not very fair on the other contestants. Will Israel win this year? I doubt it very much and they may even match the UK's traditional nul points, but is that fair when its entry will be judged politically?
I seriously believe that Israel fielding an entry this year will do them no good - better to quietly withdraw and thereby eliminate any protests.
How about banning any country which is engaged in military operations, whether that be the aggressor or the victim? That would preclude both the political protest vote and the sympathy vote. It's estimated that only 10% of countries are engaged in hostilities at any one time; however, if you add to that the countries arming belligerents I would imaging the percentage swells by quite a bit.
2 comments:
"How about banning any country which is engaged in military operations"
That would eliminatte the UK
' as is any country in the world. It's not a European contest, it's merely held and organised by the European Broadcasting Union.'
Actually, no
"Active members (as opposed to associate members) of the European Broadcasting Union are eligible to participate; active members are those who are located in states that fall within the European Broadcasting Area, or are member states of the Council of Europe.[50] Active members include media organisations whose broadcasts are often made available to at least 98% of households in their own country which are equipped to receive such transmissions.[51] Associate member broadcasters may be eligible to compete, dependent on approval by the contest's Reference Group.[52]"
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