The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the ESC, said on Tuesday it understood that people wanted to express their views on events in the Middle East. However, she is concerned about “targeted social media campaigns against some of our participating artists.”
The EBU statement stressed that freedom of opinion and the right to expression would be strongly supported in a democratic society. However, the EBU firmly opposes any form of online abuse, hate speech or harassment that is “directed against our artists or anyone associated with the competition.” Targeting ESC artists is “unacceptable and completely unfair”.
Death threats on Instagram
No specific artist was named in the statement. However, it was published at a time when 20-year-old Eden Golan, who will represent Israel this year, has received death threats on her profile on the online network Instagram.
The EBU stated that Israel Broadcasting is a member of the Broadcasting Union and can therefore take part in the ESC. However, the EBU had asked Israel to change the lyrics of Eden Golan’s song “October Rain” because it was considered too political – this violates the rules of the competition. The original song was seen as a reference to the victims of the unprecedented major attack on Israel by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas on October 7, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
Last month, Eurovision accepted the Israeli artist’s participation with another song, “Hurricane.” It’s the same music, but different lyrics.
This year the ESC is in Malmö, Sweden. The two semi-finals will take place on May 7th and 9th, the final on May 11th. Germany is at the start with the 29-year-old singer Isaak and his song “Always On The Run”.
