Last night, it was revealed that Slovenia has demanded Israel’s disqualification from the Eurovision Song Contest. This evening, the Israeli national broadcaster responds to the demand!
Last night, it was revealed that the Slovenian television network, RTVSLO, submitted a request to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to disqualify Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Basel, Switzerland on May 13, 15, and 17, 2025. Slovenia has taken the step of issuing a formal demand and updating the board of directors of the Slovenian television network on the efforts. At this stage, no operational decision has been made in Slovenia despite two additional proposals on the table in case the European Broadcasting Union does not respond to the demand – Slovenia’s withdrawal or blacking out the broadcast during Israel’s performance (contrary to competition rules).
Slovenia’s Decision Making
The decision to demand Israel’s disqualification from Eurovision was made in the last session of the RTVSLO board of directors, held between December 9 and 11. The European Broadcasting Union has not yet responded to the Slovenian request, but published the list of 38 countries that will participate in the upcoming competition – including Israel, as early as December 12. The union emphasized its commitment to maintaining the competition as a musical arena detached from politics. However, the European Broadcasting Union may be subjected to further pressures from other, stronger, and more significant countries in the union.
Response from the Israeli National Broadcaster to Our Request
Following Slovenia’s request not to allow Israel to participate in Eurovision – the corporation refers to the words of attorney Alon Galert in the Economic Committee of the Knesset at the beginning of the week:
“We are all familiar with the efforts made by anti-Semitic bodies and Palestinian actors to distance Israel from international institutions… The State of Israel fights against these attempts with all its might and invests tremendous efforts to prevent its removal from these international institutions. And now, the greatest slanderers of Israel in the world are about to get their way, not because they managed to convince the EBU to distance Israel but because we ourselves are about to cause our removal from an important international body with significant influence.
Anyone who thinks that this will end here is mistaken. The demand to distance Israel recurs and rises in many additional international bodies such as sports bodies, academic institutions, and cultural institutions… Israel’s removal from the EBU would be the first domino to create a domino effect and harm its membership in many additional bodies.”
Reaction from the Slovenian Television Network
We reached out for an official response from the Slovenian television network, RTVSLO, where they have not yet responded to the article. They neither confirmed nor denied the content that emerged from the findings of the article.
Israel in Eurovision 2024
“Hurricane” is the name of the song performed by singer Eden Golan, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the tenth season of “HaKokhav Haba“. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 194 points, and in the grand final reached fifth place with 375 points. In the public vote, Israel came in second place, just 14 points behind the first place.
This is the second consecutive time that Israel has reached the top five, an achievement it had not attained since its streak of successes in 1998-1999.
Eurovision 2024: This was Israel’s 46th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the competition in 1973 and has won it four times over the years. Israel’s last victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy” performed by singer Netta Barzilai.
