GENEVA (AP) — Organizer eurovision song contest The Israeli government has announced plans to change the popular music festival’s voting system to ensure fairness following allegations of “interference” by the Israeli government.
The European Broadcasting Union, the Geneva-based association of public broadcasters that runs the event, said on Friday that the changes were “aimed at strengthening trust, transparency and audience participation.”
Israel has been competing in Eurovision for over 50 years and has won four times. But calls for Israel’s ouster have grown over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s actions in the conflict. Hamas-Israel war In Gaza.
Allegations of Israeli government interference have added a new twist to the debate.
In September, Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS cited the human cost of the Gaza war and said it could no longer justify Israel’s participation in the contest. some other countries took a similar stance.
The Dutch broadcaster went on to say, “It has been proven that there was interference by the Israeli government during the last song contest and that the event was used as a political tool.” The statement did not elaborate.
In the same month, Goran Yokpas, CEO of Israel’s public broadcaster Can, said: “There is no reason why we should not continue to play an important role in this cultural event that should not become political.”
Mr Kang also said he was “confident” that the EBU would “continue to maintain the apolitical, professional and cultural character of the competition, especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Eurovision next year”.
As part of new Eurovision measures, the number of votes for each payment method will be halved to 10 in next year’s contest, scheduled to be held in Vienna in May, the EBU said.
Additionally, “professional jurors” will return to the semi-finals for the first time since 2022. This would result in a roughly 50-50 split between audience votes and jury votes, the paper said.
Organizers will also strengthen security measures to prevent “suspicious or organized voting activity” and strengthen security systems to “monitor, detect and prevent patterns of fraud,” the EBU said.
Competition director Martin Green said the neutrality and integrity of the competition was “of paramount importance” to the EBU, its members and audiences, adding that the event “must remain a neutral space and should not be instrumentalised”.
The EBU General Assembly, to be held on December 4-5, is poised to consider whether Israel can participate next year. Mr Green said a vote to join would only take place if member broadcasters decided the new measures were “not sufficient”.
