How The Media Turned Eurovision Into An Israel Story

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]36 countries competed at Eurovision.

[00:00:02]Guess which one the media made the whole thing about. Major outlets pushed the controversy with clickbait headlines like Politico's discord over Israel splits Eurovision, The New York Times how Israel turned Eurovision stage into a soft power tool, and CNN's Bulgaria wins Eurovision, Israel finishes second amid boycotts over its participation, trying to make an international competition all about Israel. During the show itself, Spain's RTVE aired a black screen in protest of Israel's participation, calling for peace and justice for Palestine, while Slovenia's broadcaster opted for a special Voices of Palestine programming. Protesters and boycotting broadcasters sent a clear message. Supporting Israel's participation meant you were against human rights. Cheering for a song was a political statement, and enjoying a performance made you complicit. The media's job was to question that framing. Instead, they ran with it, amplifying the boycott narrative, platforming the protesters, and treating the cultural exclusion of the only Jewish state as a legitimate human rights position, rather than examining what it actually was. Despite all this, Israel's Non Bt ignored the noise and delivered an incredible performance that lit up the stage and the scoreboard. His song got a whopping 220 points from the public vote, and several more douze points from Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Azerbaijan, France, and Poland's juries. Israel finished in a strong second place behind Bulgaria. Turns out when no one's watching, people just vote for the best song. Kol hakavod Noam.

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