An extraordinary meeting was going to be held at the EBU next November. The agenda was to vote on whether to expel Israel from Eurovision. Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands led the “yes” vote, while sources from Germany and the organizer Austria even threatened to withdraw if Israel was expelled.
The ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of hostages that took place this Monday have changed things. The EBU announced this Monday that the extraordinary call for November is canceled due to “recent events in the Middle East.”
What will happen now? Will Israel’s participation be allowed, as if nothing had happened? The decision will be made in December at the ordinary meeting that had been planned from the beginning. It will therefore be in December when the debate on Israel’s participation, which RTVE requested months ago, will take place.
As Vertele reports, in December it will be assessed whether the ceasefire has been permanent and definitive. The EBU hopes that countries that considered withdrawing – including Spain – will change their position if the ceasefire stabilizes and a vote becomes unnecessary. If the peace process did not advance, the idea of voting would be returned to.
Therefore, we now have to wait two months to find out what Spain’s final position is at the December meeting. It is unknown whether some countries will continue to show their suspicion of Israel’s participation after the genocide and dozens of violations of the EBU rules, such as the blatant use of institutions and its own song as a weapon of political propaganda; or irregularities in international televoting.
