Ireland among countries boycotting Eurovision after Israel allowed to compete
www.bbc.com
There had been calls for Israel's exclusion over the war in Gaza, as well as unfair voting accusations.

Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, after Israel was allowed to compete.

They were among a number of countries who had called for Israel to be excluded over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, and accusations of unfair voting practices.

Despite calls for a vote on Israel’s participation, members instead approved a new set of rules intended to protect the integrity of the contest.

Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE said it felt that its “participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.”

In a statement, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said that “participation under the current circumstances is incompatible with the public values ​​that are essential to us”.

Spanish broadcaster RTVE added: “The board of directors of RTVE agreed last September that Spain would withdraw from Eurovision if Israel was part of it.”

“This withdrawal also means that RTVE will not broadcast the Eurovision 2026 final… nor the preliminary semi-finals.”

Continue reading here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde6d8wyp79o

  • pulsewidth@lemmy.worldEnglish
    241·
    21 hours ago

    82% of them are happy to expel all Gaza’s Palestinian residents, that doesn’t sound like people who experience shame for their governmeng killing ~40k civilian women and children over the last few years.

    A further 56% favour expelling all Israeli citizens with Palestinian bloodlines and a lovely 47%…

    agreed that “when conquering an enemy city, the Israel Defense Forces should act as the Israelites did in Jericho under Joshua’s command – killing all its inhabitants.” Sixty-five percent said they believed in the existence of a modern-day incarnation of Amalek, the Israelite biblical enemy whom God commanded to wipe out in Deuteronomy 25:19. Among those believers, 93 percent said the commandment to erase Amalek’s memory remains relevant today.

    https://archive.is/nNzq4

    I’m not seeing much conscience or shame in those numbers.

    • Kornblumenratte@feddit.orgEnglish
      1·
      8 minutes ago

      Well - conscienc and shame are just emotions that make us adhere to social rules.

      After a pogrom in the 13th century the citicens of my city repented formally and build a church on the ground of the former Jewish quarter. They repented for having the Jews allowed to live in the city.

      It’s very probable that a good portion of the 93 percent of Jewish Israelis who agreed that the commandment to erase Amalek’s memory remains relevant today are indeed ashamed that they haven’t managed to erase the memory of Palastine yet.

      If the comittment to genocide a neighbour is this deeply engrained in a culture I’m sort of desperate. All genocides I recall that were not (mostly) successfull were only stopped by external military intervention.

    • CaptObvious@literature.cafeEnglish
      8·
      20 hours ago

      I’d like to know how Israelis as a whole respond to these questions, since this sounds like it surveyed only religious conservatives.