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Montaigne, other artists push to ban Israel from Eurovision
Art-pop musician Montaigne, who represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020 and 2021, has called for the removal of Israel from the annual competition.
“I have signed an open letter to the European Broadcasting Union asking them to remove Israel as it is unfair to any artist they select to have their participation tied to political motivation,” Montaigne said in a statement posted to social media. “This is not the spirit of the European celebration of music.”
Montaigne’s statement follows a petition signed by 1300 artists in Finland calling for Israel’s removal from Eurovision. “It is not in accordance with our values that a country that commits war crimes and continues a military occupation is given a public stage to polish its image,” the petition said.
The singer representing the UK in 2024, actor/performer Olly Alexander, also put his name to a letter last October that accused Israel of genocide. To put that incident in context, the BBC, which selected Alexander as the UK’s entrant, was criticised for choosing Alexander after the letter became public.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the organising body of the event. Eurovision has been staged annually since 1956 (Australia has been participating since 2015), and while Eurovision is officially “apolitical”, how it intersects with international geopolitics is complicated.
Montaigne’s call for a ban on an artist seems, at face value, to run contrary to the prevailing thinking of most artists at Eurovision, which is that any artist should never be punished for the actions of the government under whose flag they perform, and that the removal of any artist would itself be an explicitly political action.
Montaigne has represented Australia in Eurovision twice.Credit: Jess Gleeson / SBS
The purpose of Eurovision is, in fact, the opposite of that: it is intended to be a geopolitically neutral space in which countries that might otherwise be in political conflict can be represented by artists who perform alongside one another. In the political world, this is referred to as “soft diplomacy”.
Montaigne’s statement singles out Eurovision’s decision, in 2023, to expel Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, as an example that the EBU is capable of taking punitive action in response to political pressure.
The EBU also expelled Belarus last year because its national broadcaster was not sufficiently independent. To put that in context: the EBU is an association of broadcasters, and each national broadcaster generally leads the delegation that represents their country.
At the same time, the EBU last year declined a request from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak on the Eurovision stage during its live final, telecast to 162 million people around the world.
Zelensky’s request followed similar speeches at globally televised events such as the Grammy Awards and the Golden Globes. The Oscars declined Zelensky’s request to speak from its stage.
Eurovision is “governed by strict rules and principles which have been established since its creation; as part of these, one of the cornerstones of the contest is the non-political nature of the event”, the EBU said in a statement issued last year. “This principle prohibits the possibility of making political or similar statements.”
That said, the six-decade-plus history of the contest is peppered with political incidents that flared up either behind the scenes, on the stage, or shaped how different countries handled the telecast.
In the 1970s, when Israel first performed in the competition, Arab countries would cut to commercial breaks during Israel’s performance. And in 1978, when Israel was on track to win, the Jordanian broadcaster JRTV ended the telecast citing “technical difficulties”.
In 1975, following Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus the year before, Greece withdrew from the competition to protest at Turkey’s inclusion. And in 1976, Turkey refused to air the Greek song because it claimed it referenced the invasion.
In 2000, the Israeli entrant Ping Pong unfurled Syrian and Israeli flags after their performance, calling for peace between the two nations. And in 2009, the EBU objected to lyrics in the song submitted by Georgia because it contained references to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Georgia refused to change the lyric and withdrew from the contest.
In 2015, the Armenian entrant was asked to change the name of its song following claims the title contained a political inference. And in 2016, Ukraine was ordered to change a lyric that referenced the Orange Revolution.
When Israel won the 2018 competition (which confirmed it as the host country for 2019), the activist group Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) launched a campaign saying the contest would be used to distract from Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel’s winning 2018 song was performed by Netta in Lisbon.Credit: AP
In response to the BDS call, a letter signed by more than 100 artists – including actor Stephen Fry, talk-show host Sharon Osbourne and rock singer Gene Simmons – called for a boycott of the boycott.
Australia will compete in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be staged in Malmo, Sweden, in May, with almost 40 broadcasters confirmed to participate. An artist and song announcement is expected from SBS in the next month.
In December, the EBU confirmed Luxembourg would return to the competition this year after a 31-year absence, while Romania is likely to withdraw because its artist was given a zero score in 2023.
Montaigne has been contacted for further comment.
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