The staggering hypocrisy of boycotting Eurovision
Boycotting musical performers because they happen to target ordinary citizens because of the country they happen to have been born in, or the passport they hold
Is nothing safe anymore? Is there no event, no area of cultural life, no possible moment of joy that won’t be spared the clutches of the various virtue-signalling crusaders determined to turn absolutely everything into a front in their political campaigns? Until recently, the Eurovision Song Contest was about cheesy music, ludicrous outfits, questionable songs, petty voting patterns, catty commentary and a overdramatic results show. Millions of people tuned in for an evening that was supposed to be about music and dance – a night designed to unite a continent that has so often been divided. Now though, for the third year in a row, the contest finds itself at the centre of a political storm, with Israel at its heart.
Within hours of the confirmation that Israel would be allowed to take part in next year’s Eurovision, four other countries had announced that they would therefore be boycotting the event. The Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Slovenia and Spain are all refusing to take part, choosing to turn a musical contest into yet another source of political tensions and division (Iceland has since joined them). This was not a decision by those countries’ governments (although it was largely supported by them): Eurovision is organised by broadcasters, and it is the television stations that have decided to stay away next year.
Quite what these TV executives think they are achieving is anybody’s guess. Anyone who seriously thinks that banning Israel from Eurovision, or other nations boycotting the competition, will make a jot of difference to Israeli government policy is living in a bubble of their own self-important delusions. This is a government that has ignored increasingly strident warnings and even sanctions from close allies, waved away UN Security Council resolutions, tried to undermine its country’s own constitution and is accused of flouting international law. But Slovenia refusing to sing a song? That will do it.
So this will achieve precisely zilch. It is an empty act, the epitome of gesture politics. But will that stop these sanctimonious TV bosses from taking their self-righteous stance? Of course it won’t. Rosa Parks refused to move seats on a bus, Gandhi led a march to the sea, the Suffragettes chained themselves to Parliament and these well-paid executives will refuse to send a singer to prance around a stage in Vienna. They no doubt think they are part of the same history. They should get a grip on reality: this isn’t a brave act of protest as much as a petty example of playing to the crowd.
Then there is the issue of the staggering double standards involved. These countries think nothing of taking part in sporting competitions that involve countries like Iran. The very same broadcasters are more than happy to broadcast those contests. Indeed next summer both The Netherlands and Spain, and possible Ireland if they qualify, will take part in the football World Cup alongside Iran. The support for terrorism, the destabilising of the Middle East, the hard-line Islamist ayatollahs and their brutal repression of their own people, the systematic abuse of women and LGBT people and other minorities, the enabling of attacks on international shipping – none of that has prompted these oh-so-principled broadcasters to take a stand and declare that they will not be broadcasting the World Cup if Iran is allowed to participate. Or for the footballing authorities in those nations to announce that they will not be taking part in the competition.
I would be more sympathetic to the boycott were it Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich that were set to take to the stage in Vienna next May in revealing outfits to gyrate under the flashing lights and cavorting…all right, enough of that mental image. But it isn’t the political or military leaders who would suffer from this protest: the people being banned, if those demanding Israel’s omission got their way, would be singers, dancers and musicians.
And that is the fundamental problem with cultural boycotts: they target the wrong people. Footballers or athletes or singers and dancers have nothing to do with Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank or anywhere else. It is not they who should be held responsible. Barring Israel from Eurovision punishes the musicians and the music fans, not the politicians or the defence chiefs. If governments want to ban Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders from entering their countries in protest at what they see as their crimes, fine. But boycotting musical performers because they happen to be Israeli is to hold citizens responsible for the actions of their leaders. It is the same disturbing trend we have seen with Israeli comedians, bands and football teams: ordinary citizens being targeted because of the country they happen to have been born in, or that passport they hold. It must be called out for what it is: the punishment of a whole nation for the actions of its leaders.
Some of the boycotting countries were open about this. The director of Slovenia’s RTV channel declared: “We cannot stand on the same stage with a representative of a country that caused the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.” It is worth noting that Slovenia, like the other countries, has diplomatic relations with Israel – it hosts an actual representative of the Israeli government in its capital. There is an Israeli consul in Ljubljana and a Slovenian embassy in Tel Aviv. But perform on a stage where an Israeli singer might also be performing? A step too far, apparently.
This has to stop. It is perfectly legitimate to criticise the Israeli government or Israeli policy – I have done so repeatedly. It is not antisemitic to be appalled by the suffering in Gaza or to think that much of it was preventable. And in that context it is not unreasonable to seek sanction or punishment of those responsible: Netanyahu and his government. But preventing Israeli musicians, actors, comedians or sportspeople from working or taking part in performances or competitions? That is an entirely different matter – a slide down a slippery slope that must be halted immediately. It is about time Eurovision got back to being what it is supposed to be: not yet another diplomatic or political battleground but an endearingly naff song contest.
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