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Israel to compete at Eurovision Song Contest in 2026, prompting several nations to withdraw (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/worldnews@aussie.zone
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In short:

The Eurovision Song Contest faces the prospect of mass withdrawals after organisers opt not to vote on Israel's future participation, allowing it to take part in next year's event.

Widespread opposition to the war in Gaza had led to mounting calls for Israel to be excluded from the annual contest.

What's next?

Public broadcasters in Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia say they will not participate in next year's event, and more are expected to follow.

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[–] 24 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Really disappointed with the SBS that Australia is not among those boycotting. We're repeating the Australian Rugby Union team's tours of South Africa in the '70s and '80s. Except worse, because Israel has been doing apartheid for decades...it's just that now they've escalated to genocide, worse than South Africa ever did.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Australia has historically had a strong affinity with Israel, with figures from across the political spectrum including Julia Gillard being staunch supporters. Perhaps it’s a subconscious sense of both countries being militarised outposts of Judaeochristian civilisation under siege.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (2 children)

    Julia Gillard was neither left wing nor right wing, she was narcissist wing. I imagine all Labor leaders since her support Palestine's right to self determination, at least privately, but Australian voters hate even the faintest whiff of culture wars.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    @Tenderizer @AllNewTypeFace That’s an interesting way to put it. Leadership often gets reduced to personality rather than policy, but I think public positions are shaped as much by electoral reality as by private beliefs, especially in Australia.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    she was narcissist wing

    lol what? That couldn't be further from the truth. The biggest defining feature of her prime ministership was her she contrasted with the actual narcissist that was Kevin Rudd. Rudd initially got kicked out because his coworkers hated working with him. And his rather extreme failure to be open to negotiating (yunno, the *main part of politicians' job!) and the subsequent failure to pass his lacklustre excuse for climate law ended up providing the requisite excuse to roll him. Then Gillard comes along, does an amazing job of negotiating with the crossbench, and passes world-leading legislation on climate, along with passing more legislation overall than any other PM had to that point in living memory.

    Her ties to America and its interests are a legitimate angle of criticism of her. But her personality certainly is not.

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