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Eurovision Head Discredits Israel-Russia Comparisons While Commenting on Pressure to Disqualify Jewish State From Contest
People hold a banner at a demonstration to stop Israel’s participation in Eurovision, outside the City Hall in Malmo, Sweden, April 10, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Jean Philip de Tender — the deputy director-general of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organized the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest — on Sunday addressed the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation in the international competition.
Appearing on Sky News, he also insisted that “the situation with Russia is different” when asked why Russia and Belarus were not allowed to compete this year in the competition, which will take place from May 7-11 in Malmo, Sweden.
“First of all, we do understand the concerns and deeply held views that many people have around the war in the Middle East, and I think nobody can remain untouched by the profound suffering of everybody involved in that war,” De Tender began saying. “The Eurovision Song Concert is a music event, which is organized and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, so it’s not a competition between nations or governments.”
For months, anti-Israel activists around the world have tried to pressure the EBU to disqualify or disinvite the Jewish state from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest because of its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists controlling the Gaza Strip — a conflict triggered by Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel and massacre of civilians on Oct. 7. Participating artists have faced pressure to pull out of the Eurovision event as a way to boycott Israel’s involvement, and Israel’s representative in the contest, Eden Golan, has reportedly received death threats. Israel also increased the threat level for traveling to Malmo in response to threats of potential terrorist attacks that could target Israelis visiting the city for the Eurovision.
De Tender told Sky News that when the governing bodies of the EBU, which is a member-led organization, reviewed Israel’s involvement in this year’s Eurovision, they concluded that the Israeli public broadcaster Kan had “met all of the obligations” listed in the competition’s rules that would allow them to take part in the Eurovision. The circumstances were different regarding’s Russia’s involvement in the Eurovision competition, De Tender added.
“With Russia there was a broad consensus within the membership of the EBU that they could not participate,” he said. In addition, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and amid the ongoing war between the two countries, the three Russian members of the EBU were removed for being in breach of member obligations.
“And that is not the case with Kan,” De Tender explained. He said Eurovision steers clear of politics and that if the EBU would exclude Kan because of something outside of competition rules “that would have been a political decision.”
Golan skipped the opening event of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest on Sunday night to instead hold a small ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, which started that night in Israel.
The post Eurovision Head Discredits Israel-Russia Comparisons While Commenting on Pressure to Disqualify Jewish State From Contest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money
The Jewish Colonial Trust was established on March 20, 1899. The first Zionist bank was the brainchild of Theodor Herzl who understood that funding would be required to make his vision of a Jewish homeland a reality. Each share cost one English pound, the equivalent of $280 today. (Herzl bought the first 1,000 shares which was a […]
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money first appeared on The Canadian Jewish News.
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Palestinian Detained after West Bank Terror Ramming
Illustrative: Israeli police at the scene of a car-ramming terrorist attack near a market in Jerusalem on Monday, April 24, 2023. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters.
JNS.org – A Palestinian rammed his vehicle into a cop car in the West Bank on Saturday in what the military was investigating as a terror attack.
The incident occurred at the Eli gas station, the scene of repeated acts of terrorism against Israelis.
“A Palestinian vehicle accelerated towards a police car and collided with it, there were no casualties,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Troops caught the terrorist and transferred him to security forces for further investigation,” added the statement.
On Sunday, three Israeli police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in Judea.
They were named as Chief Inspector Arik Ben Eliyahu, 37, of Kiryat Gat, who is survived by his wife and three children; Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, 53, of Sde Moshe, who is survived by her husband, three children and granddaughter; and 1st Sgt. Roni Shakuri, 61, of Sderot, who is survived by his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
Shakuri’s other daughter, 1st Sgt. Mor Shakuri, 29, was killed on Oct. 7 while battling an attempt by Hamas terrorists to take control of the police station in Sderot, in southern Israel near the border with Gaza.
The post Palestinian Detained after West Bank Terror Ramming first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Ukraine Concerned at Reports of Iranian Ballistic Missiles to Russia
A missile unveiled by Iran is launched in an unknown location in Iran in this picture received by Reuters on August 20, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it was deeply concerned by reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.
In a statement emailed to reporters, the ministry said the deepening military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia.
CNN and The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, citing unidentified sources.
Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, the United States, a key ally of Ukraine, also voiced concern about the potential transfer of missiles.
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday that Tehran’s position on the Ukraine conflict was unchanged.
“Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict – which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations – to be inhumane,” it said.
“Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.”
The post Ukraine Concerned at Reports of Iranian Ballistic Missiles to Russia first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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