Israeli public broadcaster Kan, which is responsible for Israel’s selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, will change the lyrics of the song to prevent the country from being disqualified due to the “overly political” nature of its participation in the competition.
Two weeks ago, the Israeli public broadcaster Kana, in the program “Ha-Kokhav Ha-Ba” (“Next Star”), chose singer Eden Golan to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song “October Rain”, which says about the brutal Hamas attack on Israel. on Israeli soil on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting 250.
“The measure was taken after the committee overseeing the Eurovision Song Contest decided to disqualify Israel’s participation due to its ‘political nature,'” Kahn said in a statement.
Kahn initially disagreed with the idea of changing the song’s lyrics to soften the political tone, but decided to follow the advice of Israeli President Isaac Hezog, who last week entered into a dispute between Israel Public Television and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). .) who organizes the festival to avoid controversy.
“I think it is important for Israel to participate in Eurovision, and this is also a statement, because there are enemies who are trying to expel us from every stage,” Herzog said at the time.
According to Kahn, the EBU also did not like Kahn’s pre-selection runner-up, a song called “Dance Forever” about the Oct. 7 massacre at the Nova electronic music festival, where Hamas killed more than 360 people.
The Israeli company will have to change the lyrics of two songs, and the Eurovision monitoring committee will have to choose the final version of one of the two songs.
Next Sunday, Kahn will release a special program that will finally reveal the song and lyrics with which Israel will be represented at Eurovision.
The controversy over the lyrics of the Israeli song comes amid several calls from European political and artistic representatives for the EBU to veto Israeli participation over the war in the Gaza Strip.
The organization responded that Eurovision was an “apolitical” event, but this argument was also criticized when it recalled Russia’s rapid expulsion following its military aggression against Ukraine in 2022.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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