A simple music festival became for a few days and, above all, one night, the battlefield to judge the critical situation in Gaza since Israel began its offensive after the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. . Although Eurovision is “apolitical”, the contest this Saturday became a trial on what is happening in the area with strong criticism of a festival that had decided not to eliminate Israel as it did with Russia.
That decision may be controversial, but it had been made for a long time. With Israel in the contest, tension increased day by day and reached its most critical point in the hours before the festival. As the tension rose, Israel’s chances of victory increased, although this had not been appreciated by those who criticized its presence. But you just had to remember what happened on Thursday in the semifinal. Israel, which was booed loudly during rehearsals, qualified for the final and soared in betting. The more whistles, the more chances of winning. He did not do it, because the victory went to Switzerland, a neutral country, curiously, but Israel was the second most voted by the public. It received 323 points, very close to Croatia’s 337, the most supported by the audience. The 52 points he received from the professional jury (twelfth position for the experts) finally placed him in fifth position, possibly what he deserved due to the quality of his proposal.
The explanation for this extraordinary popular support that Israel achieved is very simple and is comparable to what often happens on reality television, no matter how strange the simile may seem. When everyone criticizes an opponent, that contestant becomes strong and generates a reactionary support that makes him almost unbeatable. Something like this happened with Israel, which was gaining support as criticism of its presence increased. It’s very simple: a scene tense to the limit, in non-musical terms, by those who criticized its presence – a very logical debate, on the other hand – caused those who supported the cause of Israel to stand up and vote for this country, although many did not even care about Eurovision. Politicized vote for an absolutely politicized festival.
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On the contrary, those who wanted to vote in the same way, but against Israel, did not know who to vote for. Was there any country that represented solidarity support with Palestine, which was not competing? No and, precisely for this reason, viewers who wanted to send a political message, not an artistic one, using Eurovision as a messenger had 24 possible recipients. His vote was dispersed. This was predicted by Antonio Obregón, professor of Law and International Relations at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICADE, who a few days ago spoke with this medium about Israel’s situation in Eurovision: “In this festival you vote positively and it is better for a few to like it a lot than for many to like something”.
Politicized vote for an absolutely polarized festival
It is clear that Israel has had the massive support from spectators in reaction to those who proposed this festival as a judgment on the situation in Gaza. And this was proposed by those who established that the festival would be a debate, very relevant months ago, about the convenience of Israel’s presence, instead of focusing it on musical issues. But the truth is that Israel had been accepted as a contestant in this contest for months and there was no turning back. In other words, if the discussion had not been pushed to the limit in the days and hours before its broadcast, Israel’s song would have been diluted in an intermediate position and no one would have talked about it. But given the controversy of some, the reaction of others became strong. And so, International policy was debated on that Malmö stage that tomorrow no one will remember. Of course, the vote of the professional jury prevented Israel from winning.
We find a precedent for this case in 2022, in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In that case, it was a wave of solidarity that gave victory to this country – Chanel will always be the moral winner – but not the quality of her song, which no one remembers anymore. And in that edition, the support vote did have a clear recipient that allowed that message to be condensed: it was as simple as voting for Ukraine, which is what was missing this year, because no one could represent the fishing ground of a Palestine that does not participate in Eurovision. That victory for Ukraine was due to political reasons. That is, it was used to send a message about what was happening, as if Putin was going to change his mind because of that avalanche of candy that Ukraine received…
Controversies aside, Eurovision 2024 has ended with the triumph of a great song and, possibly, the highest level proposal of the edition, because Switzerland condensed the best song (The Code), the most charismatic performer (Nemo) and the most magnetic staging. “May the best song win”, say the presenters before the performances of the participating countries begin. That wish has been fulfilled this year.
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