By: Gašper Blažič
After Israel took second place (and even first in the public vote) at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it seems that leftist lobbies in Europe have started to raise their heads. Let us recall that they already tried to have Israel excluded from the competition last year but failed – just as they did this year.
RTV Slovenia, particularly the national television under the leadership of Ksenija Horvat, is now joining this dirty campaign. As reported by the STA, TV Slovenia has once again reached out to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), raising increasing concerns about Israel’s continued participation in EBU events, including Eurovision. At the same time, TV Slovenia has also called for an open discussion among member broadcasters regarding the transparency of this year’s voting process and participation policies. Interestingly, in the past, even very controversial contestants were not seen as problematic.
Slovenia no longer at Eurovision?
Of course, this reminds us of similar debates in sports. Recall how UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin insisted politics had no place on the football field – yet ritual kneeling in honour of the so-called anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter was allowed. Now, it seems this mentality is spreading to Eurovision. While in the past, performers were required to change their lyrics if they were “too political,” the supposed commitment to apoliticism no longer applies when the interests of the global left are at stake. LGBT support is nearly mandatory – and now Israel is the new target.
Regardless, TV Slovenia director Ksenija Horvat has announced that if the EBU does not take concrete steps and address these concerns, TV Slovenia will reconsider its participation in future Eurovision events. The letter concluded with the hope that the EBU will provide “a serious and substantive response and restore trust in the transparency, accountability, and values the EBU is committed to,” according to TV Slovenia’s Eurovision-dedicated website.
Years of silence on e-voting, now demanding transparency
After Belgian and Spanish broadcasters also called on the EBU to ensure voting transparency – arguing that the current method is no longer apolitical or unifying – TV Slovenia expressed similar concerns, as reported on their website. “As the director of TV Slovenia, I am once again addressing you with serious and growing concerns regarding Israel’s continued participation in EBU events, particularly the Eurovision Song Contest,” wrote Horvat in the letter sent to the EBU Executive Board. She noted that she had raised similar concerns last year, which have only intensified since then.
“Unfortunately, the response we received lacked convincing or concrete explanations, and it did not reflect the urgency and seriousness of the matter. In the meantime, humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories have worsened, and public concern – both in Slovenia and across Europe – has significantly increased,” Horvat continued, referencing this year’s Eurovision televote results, which, in her view, “further eroded public trust.”
“Many viewers in Slovenia and elsewhere have expressed serious doubts about the credibility and transparency of the voting – especially within the political context surrounding the contest. The perception that political interests might have influenced participation decisions or final vote tallies has undermined public trust in the EBU’s impartiality,” she emphasised, adding that in the coming days, TV Slovenia will be asking the EBU concrete questions about the vote’s transparency.
“We are particularly interested in comparing televotes with online votes, as we believe this is essential to restoring trust in the integrity of the voting process. As public media, we are obligated to provide our audiences with accurate and verifiable information,” she wrote, adding that they do not understand why there is such secrecy around these procedures.
The left’s hypocrisy on full display
So, Horvat is not only bothered by Israel’s presence but also by the fact that the Israeli song received the most public votes. According to her, this could have been manipulated. But if another country had achieved this, there would likely be silence. Interestingly, there has long been debate about televoting and its fairness, including what safeguards it has. TV Slovenia introduced it in the late 1990s for various competitions, and back then, many raised concerns about potential manipulation through phone vote input. In 2002, when the group Sestre won the EMA contest, the televote system came under heavy fire, and TVS’s then “First Lady of Eurovision,” Miša Molk, was heavily criticised. Yet, TVS stubbornly dismissed these criticisms, claiming everything was transparent. After that, complaints subsided – until now, when Israel is once again in the spotlight.
All of this points to a great deal of hypocrisy from the leadership at Kolodvorska Street (RTV’s headquarters), behaving as if RTV were Hamas TV. Clearly, this aligns with the recent controversial performance of President Nataša Pirc Musar in the European Parliament. Since we have already commented on that appearance, there’s no need to repeat the facts about Pirc Musar’s “slip” and the consistently pro-Palestinian stance of Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, MEP Matjaž Nemec, and the left-wing radicals from Levica party. The bottom line: they are clearly upset by the large number of public votes for Israel – which means their propaganda is not working as well as they hoped.