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Eurovision Song Contest Warns Israel About Participation in Future Competitions If Controversial Bill Passes Knesset
Eden Golan performing “Hurricane” for Israel at the Grand Final at Malmö Arena. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett/EBU
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) reiterated to The Algemeiner on Thursday that if Israeli lawmakers pass a controversial bill to privatize the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC], which operates the Kan television and radio network, it would affect Israel’s chances from participating in the international singing competition in the future.
“While they are member of the EBU [European Broadcasting Union], Kan remains eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest,” the communications team from the Eurovision Song Contest told The Algemeiner. “The privatization of Kan would almost certainly lead to their exclusion from the EBU and therefore they would no longer be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The European Broadcasting Union, which represents public media organizations across Europe and North Africa, organizes the Eurovision Song Contest. The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation has been a member of the EBU since 1957, which gives it access to news, sports and music content from its network of public service broadcasters.
Earlier this week, the EBU sent a letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee expressing concern over proposed legislation in Israel that seeks to privatize the IPBC by ending its public funding and looking for a private buyer. The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, so far passed a preliminary reading 49-46 in the Knesset on Nov. 27. It states that if a buyer for IPBC cannot be found in two years, the broadcaster will be shut down completely.
The bill has been criticized by the Foreign Press Association, the Union of Journalists in Israel, the Attorney General’s Office in Israel, and the Kan network itself for its potential to hinder freedom of expression and press freedom for journalists. The EBU has previously released statements criticizing the proposed bill and related efforts in Israel to have Kan’s budget be controlled by the Israeli government.
“Public service broadcasting in Israel is under sustained political attack, facing threats that not only jeopardize its independence but its very existence in the future,” EBU Director General Noel Curran said in mid-November. “We share the concern of the Attorney General`s office that this is a political reaction to KAN`s content, from a Government that wants to either get more control over it or shut down the broadcaster altogether.”
In its letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee this week, the EBU warned that if the IPBC goes private, “it will not be a member of the EBU and as a result – will not participate in Eurovision,” as cited by Israel Hayom. They asked the committee to “carefully consider” how the bill would affect IPBC’s ability to operate “in a sustained and independent manner.”
“The privatization of the IPBC would render this relationship unstable and would almost certainly lead to its removal from our union, diminishing the state’s role in major events and limiting Israeli citizens’ access to such content,“ the EBU added. “The potential loss of Kan would weaken the diversity of news, free sports broadcasting, local programming including quality children’s programming, and much more that is available to Israeli citizens, and there will be inevitable implications for international perceptions of Israel. We are ready to provide any essential support to preserve the future of public broadcasting in Israel.”
The post Eurovision Song Contest Warns Israel About Participation in Future Competitions If Controversial Bill Passes Knesset first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.