Russia vs. Israel: Why Russia was expelled from Eurovision but Israel remains

For the Eurovision Song Contest, the parallel is quickly drawn with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia was then kicked out of the competition, but Israel is not now . Because the “Eurovision Song Contest” is a non-political event, says the EBU. That was also the EBU’s first response after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. But the group was soon forced to expel Russia, and shortly thereafter the Russian broadcasters themselves were also expelled.

The difference with it now? Then came public pressure quickly from various public broadcasters, EBU members. There was a “broad consensus” among broadcasters to ban Russia, he said. We hear that there does not seem to be such a consensus regarding Israel. In other words: exclusion would not be supported by all the EBU members and therefore could weaken part of the organization (and possibly also the sponsors).

There have also been problems with Russian public broadcasters for some time regarding compliance with EBU regulations, which is not the case with Israeli public broadcasters until further notice, it seems. Plus, with Russia and Ukraine, you had two Eurovision countries that would be on stage together. That could jeopardize the course of the Eurovision Song Contest itself.

The EBU’s decision: the situation is not the same and it would be a political decision to exclude Israel, while the Eurovision Song Contest is “non-political”.