Hamas survivor Yuval Raphael, 24, will represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest – propaganda, says researcher
A researcher on Eurovision calls for a more active role for the broadcaster in the EBU’s handling of Israel’s participation in the contest.
Raphael was celebrating at the electronic music festival where Hamas carried out a brutal attack on October 7, 2023.
The attackers killed nearly 400 people at the festival. Hundreds were also injured, including Raphael, who still has shrapnel in his leg when he takes to the stage.
Raphael has told the media and in a speech at the UN how he spent eight hours hiding under the bodies of festival-goers killed in the terrorist attack.
– I struggle with it daily. It seems like a personal victory that I get to experience this and represent my country with great pride, Raphael says in a recent interview with the BBC.
– That’s a shocking story. He survived, and many others did not. This story touches many.
– But there is clearly a line that music is used as a means of propaganda. Let’s start with politics, even though EBU himself has defined that Eurovision is not a political event.
The participation of Israeli has once again sparked the opposition, as the war operation in Gaza, which demanded tens of thousands of lives in the country, continues.
According to Mäkelä, the Israeli broadcasting company has formulated the visa proposal so that it does not break the rules of EBU, the European Broadcasting Competition, the European Broadcasting Competition.
There is no direct political message in the paragraph or stage presentation.
– There is no need to emphasize the survival story in the presentation as it is so clearly highlighted in the context outside the song.
The researcher sees that Israel is seeking international compassion and approval by his representative.
– This is what we want to remind everything, according to Israel. Of course, the Israeli and Palestinian crisis started decades earlier, but Israel now wants to emphasize the Hamas attack, says Mäkelä.
He recalls that in a similar style of communication, Israel was a great success last year.
Israeli’s participation raised a lot of boycott requirements and major demonstrations in the Swedish Mälmlä, which organized the Eurovision Song Contest.
-Protesting turned against himself when Israel was able to take advantage of the sympathy wave it created, says Mäkelä.
In particular, Golan rose to fifth place in the finals. Like many other countries, Finland also gave Israel the maximum audience points.
Mäkelä, a cultural history researcher in the Eurovision Song Contest, sees similarities in both the ballad pieces of Golan and Raphael and the performers themselves.
-This year, Israel will send a young female artist as a solo performer to the stage in the spirit of \”I Answer the World\”. The same pattern worked last year and Israel hopes it will work now.
Researcher calls for a more active role for Yle
Russia has not been released into the Eurovision Song Contest since it began a major offensive to Ukraine more than three years ago.
Mäkelä sees the explanation for the fact that the political leaders of Europe condemned Russia in practice unanimously, but the condemnation of Israeli’s war has been much more frustrating.
– Since Israel has not been subject to the same kind of political pressure, Ebu has not dared to rise above political decision -making, Mäkelä sees.
Yle has not called for the exclusion of Israel out of the Eurovision Song Contest, as do other EBU member companies.
Mäkelä urges Yle to take on a more active role in the matter.
– Yle is a member of a member organization. It is not just a messenger, but can be an active player and challenges EBU’s views. I would see that there was a need for such a debate.
The debate on the issue has been discussed before the Eurovision, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia broadcasting companies.