Backlash over Israel continues. Eurovision is a very big deal to Europe.
What Is Eurovision?
AI Explanation: Eurovision is an annual international song competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. Participating countries, mainly from Europe, each send an original song to be performed live, with voting determining the winner, which is often based on a combination of professional juries and public votes.
How Big Is Eurovision?
From Dave Keating: Eurovision is the most-watched non-sports event in the world. Each year, it has more viewers than the Superbowl, Oscars and Grammys combined. It’s the only pop culture soft power that Europe has on continental scale. And yet today, Europeans (led by Germany and Austria) have committed an immense own goal – sending one of their greatest soft power assets hurtling toward collapse. And for what? To protect Israel – a country which isn’t even in Europe.
What’s Happening?
Dave Keating explains Eurovision is unravelling tonight as country after country pulls out
Today’s decision by the European Broadcasting Union to back Israel’s continued participation in the contest has a lot of backstory, and it begins in 2022 when Russia was kicked out of Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine. This is supposed to be a non-political contest, and it was a big step to kick a country out for political reasons. However, at least seven Eastern European countries had threatened to quit the contest if Russia wasn’t excluded. The EBU did the math, and in the interest of coalition management they decided it was better to lose one country rather than seven.
But that crossing of the Rubicon moment had major implications two years later, when Israel’s participation in the contest was questioned in May 2024 as it conducted its operations against Gaza. But there was a key difference: although several Western European broadcasters grumbled about it, none actually threatened to pull out of the contest over it. And that was the key difference between the Russia situation and the Israel situation – until this year. So what changed?
Israel came first in the televote this year, resulting in the infamous split screen at the end of the contest to determine whether next year’s show would be in Israel or Austria. The Eurovision result is based 50% on the public vote and 50% on juries of music experts who are supposed to vote based on musical merit only. The juries did not rank Israel highly (it was not a song that would normally do well in Eurovision), and so Austria edged out Israel to win the contest. But that heart-in-chests moment, where it looked like Eurovision 2026 was going to be in Israel, spooked broadcasters. That unease turned to anger when it emerged after the contest just how extensive the Israeli government’s get-out the vote campaign for their contestant Yuval Raphael had been.
Anyone who watches a lot of Eurovision content on Instagram or TikTok had seen the advertisements from Israel telling people when and how to vote to show their support by voting 20 times. There was even a billboard in New York City’s Times Square this year and last year telling people to vote to show their support. Of course, Eurovision doesn’t air in the United States and most Americans have never heard of it. But Americans were still being asked to vote. Several of my friends in the US received text messages this year and last year, which they sent me screenshots of, telling them to go online and vote for Israel at a specified time in something called “Eurovision” that most Americans have never heard of.
Other entries also advertised on social media – it is not uncommon. But an investigation by Eurovision News Spotlight, which is actually operated by the EBU, found that while all ads for the other songs were paid for by the artists themselves, their record company or their broadcaster, ads for Yuval Raphael were paid for by an Israeli government agency. The other difference is that while those ads seemed to be about the song, Israel’s advertisements are sending a very clear message that you should vote to show your political support. And many people did.
Is this “cheating”? Technically it was not. There are no credible reports of voting by bots. It can be assumed that the people voting for Israel for political reasons, whether once or 20 times, were doing so out of honest conviction. But right or wrong, such voting to make a political statement distorts the whole contest. And though there is an easy way to vote ‘for’ a country in Eurovision, there is no effective way to vote against it.
Following this year’s contest, 15 EBU broadcasters demanded an investigation into what had happened and asked for the voting system to go back to one-person-one-vote as it was before.
By September, the objecting countries had had enough and they decided to use the same nuclear option that had been used by Eastern European countries against Russia in 2022. Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands all said they would quit the contest if Israel isn’t excluded. Belgium, Sweden and Finland indicated they were considering doing the same. If the EBU wasn’t going to do anything abut the vote manipulation, then the only recourse they had left was to demand the exclusion of the country doing the manipulating.
The EBU panicked, and scrambled to agree to some minor rule changes last month. The number of votes each person can cast was reduced from 20 to 10. They introduced new provisions saying countries are discouraged from paying to promote their artists. But it was too little too late. The objecting broadcasters, by now furious and exasperated with the EBU, said either Israel goes or they go.
That brings us to today’s decision. Ahead of the secret ballot, Germany and Austria (next year’s host) were lobbying furiously against excluding Israel. There were even suggestions from Germany that they would quit the contest themselves is Israel were excluded (musically, I’m not sure who would miss them). Austria’s senior foreign ministry official Sepp Schellhorn called the other countries’ objections “dumb and pointless”. Austria’s chancellor said that “based on our history” he could never accept Israel being excluded. Germany and Austria won the day, and the EBU today decided to keep Israel in.
An Easy Path, Not Taken
The easy path would be to change the rules so that only European countries could participate.
Second, I fail to see why anyone should be allowed to vote 10-20 times. Why not 100? And who is counting to prevent 1,000?
Even if booting Israel was for political reasons, it would be logically justified because Israel is part of Asia, not Europe, as long as all other non-European nations were booted as well.
Current Regular Non-European Participants
- Israel: Has participated regularly since 1973 and won four times.
- Australia: Debuted in 2015 as a special one-off for the contest’s 60th anniversary and has received special permission to compete every year since due to its strong fanbase and EBU associate membership.
- Armenia: A transcontinental country that has participated since 2006.
- Azerbaijan: Another transcontinental country, participating since 2008.
Mish Take
I disagree with everyone while offering a reasonable non-political resolution.
Instead, four nations, with three more on deck, voted to punish athletes over politics.
Olympic Flashback
- 1980 Moscow Olympics: President Carter led a U.S. boycott (joined by over 60 nations) after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979, stopping American athletes from competing.
- Reagan’s Stance (1980): As a candidate, Reagan supported the boycott, seeing it as a strong response to Soviet aggression, though he also suggested athletes should have a say.
- 1984 Los Angeles Olympics: The Soviets, citing “anti-Soviet hysteria” and safety concerns (though widely seen as retaliation for 1980), boycotted the LA Games, which Reagan hosted.
- Reagan’s Role (1984): He welcomed the Soviet absence, seeing it as a political move by the Kremlin, and opened the games, projecting an image of peace and strength.
In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, 60 nations, led by US president Jimmy Carter, punished athletes for political reasons.
Many of those athletes trained for decades and were denied an opportunity to compete.
Q: What did that accomplish?
A: Politically nothing. And it damaged a lot of innocent lives.
What Just Happened Now?
Keating points out “Ahead of the secret ballot, Germany and Austria (next year’s host) were lobbying furiously against excluding Israel.”
What happened? You tell me. Was it cold feet by Germany and Austria, or was this some sort of political setup?
I don’t know, but I do know the result is another stupid political decision that impacted innocent artists, despite having an obvious, and logical, and justifiable non-political solution.
As long as Russia can be banned from Eurovision (and the World Cup for that matter), so can anyone else, for equally specious reasons, or even good ones. Excluding a genocidal nation seems relatively sound.
I’ll add that Novak Djokovic, the greatest tennis player of our time, is banned from Wimbledon for not being vaxxed.
Globalists have wrecked supposedly apolitical competitions for decades. It needs to stop. Short of that, we need to expose their duplicity.
Our Netherlands even? I’m proud. In the 2024 Eurovision in Sweden, we had an openly anti-genocide singer getting framed and disqualified by “a female camera dame” before the contest started. Final verdict, afterwards: nothing happened. Decision by EBU happily taken to support Israel? My guess is it played a role.
Germany and Austria – They are clients of Epstein file.
Q: What did that accomplish?
A: Politically nothing. And it damaged a lot of innocent lives.
The fact that western athletes (except for the UK, which did participate) lost the chance to compete against the formidable Soviet Olympic machine in 1980 was more than made up by the eastern counter-boycott of 1984. Marylou Retton became a super-star but one wonders if its because the tremendous Romanian gymnasts stayed home.
It reminds everyone how vile Israel is.
How can so many of you be so duped so consistently?
Hamas is vile too. They’re just the weak dancer in this shitshow.
They are just dumb.
Try eating a big loaf of shit.
EV is irrelevant, artificial, and crummy.
– since 1956. Participating countries, mainly from Europe. > Well make it a “Europe Only“ thing, and see if it can stand on only Europe Participation, Fans, and Money.
– Eurovision has more viewers than the SuperBowl, Oscars and Grammys combined. > So it’s on par with the SuperBowl then? Oscars and Grammys are pretty much as dead as Hollywood. I say it doesn’t last without outside attendance. Europe can’t do anything right of late, as they look more and more like a crumbling mess. Not as bad as the UK, but getting there fast, and at a major expense to its Citizens.
– It’s the only pop culture soft power that Europe has on continental scale. > Perhaps there is a good reason for that, and maybe we are about to see it.
– And yet today, Europeans have committed an immense own goal – sending one of their greatest soft power assets hurtling toward collapse. > Why would or should Europe act any differently towards this gig, than they do Energy for example? They don’t care anymore about that, than they do about this it would appear.
– And for what? To protect Israel – a country which isn’t even in Europe. > No, but rather to be inclusive. If it NOT going to be Europe Only, then you don’t get to pick and choose favorites based on Politics. You look like a weak and desperate Country, oh wait a minute, I forgot we are talking about Europe, the “Basket Case” of Countries along with the UK.
– Today’s decision by the European Broadcasting Union to back Israel’s continued participation in the contest. > Weak and Pathetic, so they are staying very consistent in there approach towards other Countries whom they don’t agree with…
– So what changed? > Absolutely nothing, as Europe remains a weaker and less powerfully Country, every single day that passes…
– 15 EBU broadcasters demanded an investigation into what had happened. > They can’t even figure out that “Europe Idiocy” is what happened. They’re meddling once again, has bit them in the behind. They want to “Control Everything”, when they obviously can’t even remotely come close to simply “Controlling Themselves”.
– The easy path would be to change the rules so that only European countries could participate. > Simple and makes sense.
– I fail to see why anyone should be allowed to vote 10-20 times. > “Control”
>> This entire issue is silly stupid, from people with Control Issues. Simply make it Europe Only, as it’s a Europe Thing anyway, or Be All Inclusive. Enough already…
I ask the simple question…
Wouldn’t we all be better off spending all the money we spend on war, on infrastructure and education instead?
Let the Jews and Palestinians fight it out with rocks and sticks if that is their culture!
Enough is enough!
– Wouldn’t we all be better off spending all the money we spend on war, on infrastructure and education instead?
> On infrastructure yes, as we all do anyway after every war. I say “No Way” we give it to the “Teachers Unions” as they take way more already than they use for Teaching.
>> In Fact, getting rid of the Teachers Unions would free up so much cash, and at the same time put a spot light on what they have been doing all along. I don’t call manipulation teaching. The schools wouldn’t know what to do with all the money that’s been taken away from them, for anything but teaching…
In Florida, teachers pay for the union out of their salaries. And the average pay is a little over $54k. Without the union, the pay would probably drop to private sector teacher pay: a little over $41k.
Um, public schools in Florida received about $39.3 billion in funding, which included contributions from property taxes (47%), state programs (36%), and federal grants (17%j.
That’s not the way it’s reported, and teachers could never afford to do so anyway, unless they make a combined $39 Billion amongst one another, and then they would make nothing…
Per this article, the state governments should do this. But when the state govt. is of the same party as the union – nothing happens (i.e., Illinois).
Yes. This is what is called success for the unions.
– The State Government should do it.
> Is that so they can add on some goodies for themselves too?
The State Government IS the problem. They created the Union problem that we have. It’s the Have & Have Not scenario being played out.
Listen, do as you’re told, vote as we instruct and we will shower you with goodies your entire life, your kids lives and their kids too!! Don’t worry the Taxpayer’s will unknowingly be paying for it all, and the kids are stupid, so we’re good…
Hey Frosty, your gold nuggets may have just crossed a line in the sand? Will this number be the catalyst for the “Real” move down? I was thinking 4-6 months before the midterm, so this would be earlier than I expected, but then again, I didn’t see it dropping below that number so quickly, and after that blip about Central Banks…
Like it or not the US participated in Israelis genocide and the crimes against humanity in GAZA. I do not support Hamas in the least, but bombing the people in GAZA back into the Stone Age and killing thousands of innocent civilians was and is inhumane.
With Trump at the helm we are likely going to end up with Israel as our only ally.
That is what happens with a compromised pathological liar and malignant narcissist as president.
>>>
correct. i attended the protests at columbia university. i was with packs of hasidic jews, young college kids, 20 and 30 something columbia grads and their friends……….the ugliest protest i’ve ever attended. and i’ve seen some ugly ones in the world live. thousands of boomers with israeli and amerikan flags surrounding us tossing food at us and screaming in my daughters and all of us faces that we should be raped and killed in Gaza. the NYPD sat by and watched this. i saw many fat old men body slam……tiny little college girls……….all because we were saying we don’t want genocide. as any hasidic jew will tell you, being anti zionist is not anti jew. amerikans are vicious in the majority. crumbling evil empire 101. read some history and learn this is not unique.
Israel isn’t an ally, it’s a parasite. They have never done anything for us, and they never will.
wrong. israel is under the thumb of the amerikan empire. as it was under the UK before and in history under ottoman, romans and a few other empires in history. you have it backwards kid.
JOOOOOOOOOS!
There you go, playing the Jew Card again…
If you actively support terrorism or terrorists, then you are not innocent.
No one is innocent in Gaza. Almost everyone supported Hamas continuing terrorism. They knew where the rockets and bombs were stored. They knew where the launches of missiles were made from.
They received 500 trucks of FREE aid every single day on a decades long scam of claiming to be refugees oppressed by Israel. Qatar and other Arab nations sent Gazans millions of $$ in cash monthly. Gazans were given apartments, cars, food, big screen TV’s and household supplies as reward for supporting Hamas and their terrorism.
Additionally, Hamas also paid people in Gaza to have large families so they could be used as additional human shields. This was why Gaza was one of the densest populated regions on the planet. Their investment in children, wasn’t for their future but as shields for Hamas.
Their big families could also be used as media pawns in the event of an Israeli invasion and longer-term to grow the Palestinian population until it overflowed out of Gaza, which they hoped would allow them to gain control of more land.
Everyone in Gaza is guilty, including women and children (recall “sins of the fathers” from the Bible?). This is why parents should be careful with the decisions they make, such as supporting terrorists merely because they give them free stuff.
Ahhhh, the classic dehumanize the victims as a justification for killing them.
The Palestinians dehumanize themselves by embracing and supporting terrorism.
ok Adolph
the term terrorist is silly. you sound like the old nazis. dehumanize people and genocide them or put them in gated ghettoes or work camps.
“Calling Hamas “terrorists” is silly”
This could be the single stupidest comment ever made on Mish’s blog
Who are the innocent civilians in Gaza… these children…?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWMBvxWKL0
The kid who said, “We ask Hitler – why did he leave some of you alive?…” Is he an innocent child? If gets himself killed by shooting at IDF soldiers, is he then an innocent victim??
The Palestinians are a failed, or rapidly failing society, and their only contribution to the future of humanity (not that they care about such things) will be when they are seen as an example of what happens when you devote yourself to the destruction of your neighbors who you are taught to hate from childhood for reasons of racist and religious bigotry.
Here’s an enlightening article on the UNRWA and some of what they teach so-called ‘Innocent” children in school that is really terrorism indoctrination:
How UNRWA Grooms Terrorists
by Bassam Tawil
December 26, 2023 at 5:00 am
– By providing the residents of the Gaza Strip with various services, UNRWA exempted Hamas from its responsibilities as the governing body, such as creating a working economy that would pay for education and healthcare, and allowed it, instead, to invest resources in building tunnels and manufacturing weapons.
– “They [UNRWA] teach us that the Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to us [Muslims], that Palestine belongs to us,” said Atif Sharha, a student at an UNRWA school.
– “Yes, they teach us that the Zionists are our enemy,” said Nur Taha, a third-year student from Kalandia. “We should carry out an [terror] operation against them [Zionists].”
– “The Palestinian matriculation exams [at UNRWA] have become a finishing school in extremism. It is as if the Palestinian Authority is cramming as much hate into the tests as possible, to ensure the twelve previous years of indoctrination stay with them into adulthood.” — Marcus Sheff, CEO at the Institute for Cultural Peace and Tolerance in School Education, i24news.tv, July 23, 2023.
– Despite years of considerable condemnation of the textbooks, newly produced editions, approved by UNRWA, are exponentially worse.
…
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20258/unwra-grooms-terrorists
In ireland the eurovision is a joke for years they sent a f45king turkey to represent
the country one year. eurovision forget it not worth talking about
I for one think it’s pretty novel that vote manipulation is a bridge too far but murdering about a hundred thousand people and displacing two million is a non-issue for European music! And with Germany and Austria being the furious defenders? Jokes really do write – and tell – themselves!
I agree. For this reason, Hamas should be excluded from Eurovision
i’m dual amerikan / italian citizen. i think italy and usa should be excluded from olympics and world cups on all the atrocities of my people for the past 2000 years. keep the idiot sports and entertainment fans out of my life, seems divine.
A small detail: the program is paid by state Tvs of partivipants and mostly from the winner country.
Not participating allow for budget cuts.
Slight correction….Eurovision is not a big deal in Europe. It is a big marketing event organised by national broadcasting organisations to make them feel relevant. That was not always the case but today it is just a joke. Serves the broadcasters right that they have got themselves in such a mess as a result of wanting to expand the audience to places it should never have been.
i don’t know one EU citizen that has ever mentioned giving two shits about it. i happen to be a dual citizen. i need another passport. get 3.
Most likely you are too old to mix with those interested in it.
i’m only 250 years old.
Probably a degree of more or less subtle nudging involved by the new rulers of the world
Pulling out of competition while Israël is allowed to compete was the right decision. Inviting countries that commit genocide to this event so they can put propaganda on the stage is insane by itself. The fact that it is not even a European country makes it all the more easy to keep them out.
Funny how the Jew haters say the Jews don’t belong in Israel but should go back to Europe but then say those same Jews shouldn’t be competing in a competition with other Europeans.
And as over half the Jews in Israel are Arab Jews (including the Gazan Jews driven out of the Jewish Quarter of Gaza City a century ago) they also don’t want to mention that they have a right to be where they are.
You are making this a Jewish issue. This is about Israel. I think we are beyond equating the two. One is a great culture the other a pretty troubled state.
It is a jewish issue. Stop the word games. One and the same.
Nonsense – calling every criticism ‘anti-Jewish’ cheapens the real fight against antisemitism — and avoids the actual issue. People who equate the two are giving Judaism (one of the greatest historical cultures) a really bad name – shame on you.
Palestinians support Hamas, and Hamas stated in their Covenant that the destruction of Israel is just, “a step on the road” – the end of the road being the elimination of Jews completely.
BS. Not every Jew is Zionist, fascist murderer.
People like you make people antisemitic.
the really funny part is both palestinians and israelis are semites. same ancient tribe.
That’s because ‘ol Neil is a bigot.
the hasidim in my old hood agree. we were protesting in brooklyn and columbia u together. jews are wonderful. zionism is evil. ask any hasid rabbi. i’m a dual amerikan / italian passport but would never want a zionist passport. i’ve been offered.
we hate zionists. we love jews.
bad news…. there are zionist arabs in israel who are judges who have sent corrupt jewish israeli politicians to jail. there are zionist arabs who -gasp – are leaders in the IDF and lead jewish israelis soldiers.
Sorry for the bad news. i guess now you have to hate more brown people, eh?
“And as over half the Jews in Israel are Arab Jews”
That seems unlikely. Before WWI only 12% of the population of Palestine was Jewish. There was a massive (& displacing) influx from mainly European countries subsequently.
Being opposed to genocide doesn’t make anyone a “Jew hater.”
You just don’t know what genocide means. You’re either a little retarded or unwilling to admit what you are.
What is happening in Gaza was planned to the letter by Hamas, including the maximizing of civilian casualties, without whom they have no propaganda leverage.
It is pathetic, bordering on contemptable, for comfortable Westerners to refuse to accept the true nature of nihilistic jihadism. To insist that the only reason they behave like they do is because they MUST have been horribly provoked reflects a shocking moral cowardice.
Maybe when the Jews have been all eliminated and they then turn their attention to you, the veil will be lifted from your eyes and you will finally realize what a threat enlightened humanity is facing from violent, radical Islam.
thereligionofpeace.com
.
Keep politics out of multinational sporting and other events like Eurovision. It boggles my mind that Russia is excluded from the Olympics while Israel currently committing genocide is allowed to compete in the Olympics and Eurovision.
Hamas appreciates your patronage. As a reward, kick your wife in the gut twice.
Because there hasn’t been any “genocide” committed. That would easily explain the Eurovision decision, yes?
Why won’t you accept the logical and obvious explanation, that you are wrong and there has not been any genocide? Can you not modify your beliefs in the face of clear evidence against those beliefs?
Denial is strong with this one!
What does Egypt have to do with the conversation?
It’s simple really. Israel is actively committing a genocide. Why would any decent people want to be associated with them?
As you say, it is a question off basic decency….which Israel is currently lacking.
[LOL]
if they say beatlejuice 3x, michael keaton appears.
Five surveys in a row by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) confirm that Palestinians still strongly support Hamas. Since Hamas stated in its original Covenant that the destruction of Israel was just, “a step on the road…” – the ultimate aim being the annihilation of the Jews, the pursuit of genocide is clearly in the other direction. No decent person would object to Israel’s right to defend itself.
The Israeli genocide speaks for itself as to the true character of the Jewish state. Anti-semitism happens for a reason and Israel has not impressed the world with its centuries of war against the Palestinians.
Israel is not defending itself. Israel is committing genocide!
I do not support Hamas, but Israel has crossed the line in the view of reasoning people everywhere.
“Anti-Semitism happens for a reason”….
And there you have it. This blog is infested with shameless out-and-out anti-Semites.
If you support the Palestinians who support Hamas, then you support Hamas.
They can’t come to terms with understanding any of this. Bigotry dictates what they believe. Might as well throw some sheets over their heads and hand them a burning cross.
This notion that anyone who opposes Israeli genocide is automatically anti-Semitic, and therefore a ‘Hamas lover’ is just silly. It uses the same logic of some on the left who claim that anyone who criticizes Obama or Kamala is automatically racist, and therefore a white supremacist.
It’s much simpler than that. Just making the preposterous claim that the actions of the IDF in rescuing their hostages and neutralizing Hamas is “genocide,” is proof enough that you are fundamentally anti-Semitic.
Normally if you are in a war that you’re losing badly, you surrender. Hamas believes that their victory will be in Paradise, achieved either through killing Jews or dying trying.
What’s happening in Gaza is EXACTLY what Hamas and their Palestinian supporters planned.
do you realize the jews and muslims from that little part of the world on near the sinai and galilee…..are both semites. the term anti semite is stupid in this context.
Best for a country farmer to stick to what he knows best, which is growing stuff. World politics are clearly outside your area of understanding.
Hmmm… I wonder if Israel ever did anything to cause Palestinians to support Hamas in such a way.
Hamas sent 20,000+ rockets into Israel over many years and instead of declaring war, in response Israel just invented the Iron Dome defense system and got on with their lives. Hamas finally found a way to provoke the war they wanted, and consequently they promptly had their ass handed to them. Bleating, “Genocide” while cynically deliberately maximizing the Palestinian civilian death count in every way was the second part of their strategy..
bigots like you love this stuff. just admit it.
I’m not a bigot and I’m not an anti-Semite. I am opposed to Israel’s genocide. I’m not bothered by your name-calling, everyone knows if you had a better argument to support the genocide you would use it.
Then you’re just stupid. [shrug]
WRONG!
Israel has an amazing propaganda machine. However, it is a difficult sell to claim they are just defending themselves when we have all seen pictures and video from Gaza. We have all had enough of the lies, like when Netanyahu said recently that there was no starvation in Gaza.
The problem for Israel is that there is just too much documentation of their actions for their denials to be plausible. And for every obscure story that claims it is false, there are thousands that say the opposite, for example: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/israel/two-israeli-rights-groups-say-country-committing-genocide-gaza-rcna221650
Yes- there was plenty of starvation among the hostages.
(You remember the hostages – the people you never cared enough to mention concern for…?)
It’s a war. If I were in charge, I would starve them all out of Gaza. In fact, I would force them all down to Egypt’s border and then push them through to the other side. Illegal under current laws of war? [Shrug]. What you going to do about it?
If Israel is allowed to compete in a European competition why isn’t Palestine, Egypt or Syria?
There is no such country as “Palestine”. No recognizable borders. No government. No military.
There was before Israel was created by the Balfour Declaration/Accord.
Denying the Palestinians and others their rights is a pattern of the Jewish state.
Even a casual observer of Jewish history quickly recognizes the Jews as an aggressive and in the case of GAZA, an abusive culture.
Hmm… here I thought Israel was the Country invaded via GAZA. I read they streamed across the border, and attacked Israel, for no apparent reason (they were in a festival?) and took prisoners, and only a few were given back. I must have read a different article from a different newspaper than you read…
“Palestine” was a general geographic area which included all of modern Jordan, half of Syria and part of Lebanon. If the “Palestinian people” wanted to return “home” they could go and live in any of these areas – instead, they focus exclusively on that tiny strip of land which is Israel. Why? Because that’s where the Jews are. This is a purely anti-Semitism issue.
As long as the Gazans continue to support Hamas who have vowed to annihilate the Jews as a religious duty, no decent person should support the Palestinians.
I agree on the surface, because it’s logical sounding, but I am not aware of the centuries of history in regards to this matter.
No Country should support another, that wishes to annihilate them, or another that supports that said Country, but that’s simply common sense…
‘Israel’ is a spiritual fantasy place in the Levant several thousand years ago that was resurrected last century by atheist eastern european people of the Jewish faith, who also invented a new language for themselves.
They pray at the wall of a Roman fort, rocking backwards and forwards to generate sexual friction with their god, while preying on the semitic peoples around them to expand their new colony.
This blog is infested with more vile anti-semites than Zero Hedge. And you are the absolute worst.
did you type this with your white sheet over your head? burning cross in hand?
It’s telling that several jihad supporters have down-voted this comment….
They are not used to being challenged.
What was the name of Palestine’s prime minister back then? What were the country’s borders?
Are you really this dumb?
Israel isn’t in Europe, but it is a European colonial project. They are in the on-going process of ethnically cleansing the so called “holy lands” for people of European descent. The global south understands this, why can’t we?
They’re in the process of turning the Holy Land into Hell. But maybe that will force Jeebus to come back!
The establishment of modern Israel was the de-colonizing of the area with the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland. The active modern colonizers are the Muslims. They took over the entire middle-East at the point of a sword, and are now rampaging through north Africa at the point of a gun. Their ambition is a world-wide califate and they have a multi-century timeframe.
what a bunch of poppycock. who cares about some advertising campaign. all sports and entertainment on a stage selling tickets and ad space is pure marketing. don’t get caught up in the idiocracy of this. some kids playing sports or playing music in a park for fun is one thing. this whole eurovision like the olympics is madison avenue rubbish. go watch adam curtis, “century of self” 4 part series. my lord the vast majority of the hand wringers seem retarted. idiocracy was truly a documentary. but this analysis did make me LOL.
Bread and circuses!
panem et circenses is what my ancestors knew was the answer to pacify the morons in the roman empire. i’m proud to be an italian citizen and amerikan citizen. i just wish it was an roman empire passport. 2 crumbling evil empires. same shit. only 2000 years apart in founding. at least the roman empire lasted as eastern empire for another 1500 years. the land of zion has always been under the thumb of empires. today amerika rules there. yesterday it was the UK. before that it was ottomans…………..israel is a wonderful little bitch colony to use for access to amerikan empire’s oil in north africa and bridge to asia……..
the briefing on the boat
by the way, how many drug runners take passengers (11 people on the boat)–it really cuts down on the drugs being carried, wouln’t it?
…The initial hit on the vessel, believed to be carrying cocaine, killed nine people immediately and split the boat in half, capsizing it and sending a massive smoke plume into the sky, the sources who viewed the video as part of the briefings said. Part of the surveillance video was a zoomed-in, higher-definition view of the two survivors clinging to a still-floating, capsized portion, they said.
For a little under an hour — 41 minutes, according to a separate US official — Bradley and the rest of the US military command center discussed what to do as they watched the men struggle to overturn what was left of their boat, the sources said.
Ultimately, Bradley told lawmakers, he ordered a second strike to destroy the remains of the vessel, killing the two survivors, on the grounds that it appeared that part of the vessel remained afloat because it still held cocaine (HOW DID THEY KNOW?), according to one of the sources. The survivors could hypothetically have floated to safety, been rescued, and carried on with trafficking the drugs, the logic went.
The other source with direct knowledge of the briefing called that rationale “f**king insane.”
9 extra people on the boat is about 600kg weight which is about $15mil in cocaine
not effn likely
Kids generally are bad liars. It’s so easy for adults to tell when they’re lying. Most get better at lying as they get older. Some of these lying kids grow up and never polish their act.
Wherever & Whenever there is Money to be Pocketed, Votes to be Captured, or a Camera looking for a Face, you will come across Politicians Playing Politics. It’s all a racket, and the one with the most money, and support usually wins.
I liked it better when asked “What have You Done for Me lately?
Now it’s more “What are You going to do For Us Now, and Next election and the election after that? It’s become a big “One-Up” on eventual broken promises…
The program is mainly paid by state run broadcasting services.
Withdrawing allows for budgets cuts without peoples too much complainning.
Roughly $1 per person in the State pays for the Broadcasting Services. One way or another the Tax Payers of FL. Are paying something for it, and it’s a double hit, because that was tax dollars that could have went for Parks or something much, more valuable…
It is difficult to imagine more egregious bias than to allow Israel to compete in the Olympics and Eurovision; and to kick Russia out of the Olympics and European soccer leagues.
Because Russia’s ambition to take over Ukraine as a step on the road to reclaiming the old Soviet boundaries is perfectly OK, whereas Israel defending themselves against those who have openly vowed to annihilate them is not ok….
wow
The only thing I know about Eurovision is Abba!
I know two things, Volodomyr Zelenskyyyy said the 2023 Eurovision would be in Crimea (WRONG!) and this thing:
https://external-preview.redd.it/znCj3l8rItCJZLKzI51zmNmkrGoWsHKYkdDC1TcqAA4.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=391f7dca269922b0c70f1c61d18f044aa6ca8255
Looks like they’re going to have to team up with the Palestinians for SemiteVision.
People in the US have no idea how much of a pariah Israel is.
Ireland was one of the 4 countries and I know the overwhelming majority of Irish support a boycott. I don’t expect Americans to understand that.
Perhaps a “pariah”, but only among a subset of people who, in the big picture, don’t much matter what they think or want.
for now
of the vast majority of 8 billion humans that know what israel is, the vast majority hates them, outside of pax dumbfuckistan run by our own zionist, donny boy.
Israel is the home of 14 Nobel Prize winners, it is an oasis of self-created economic prosperity, and it is a respecter of the rights of all minorities within its borders
On the other hand, the people who know the Palestinians the best hate them the most. Jordan went to war with them in the 70’s and killed thousands of them, and they are viewed with distrust right across the middle-East. They are a hyper-violent group of professional refugees who live on the free money from UNRWA while offering support to jihadi groups of every kind.
the semite tribe, which includes the jews and muslims are idiots. the dumb wings of the abrahamic cult. zion is just a bitch colony of empires. today it’s amerikan empire. used to be bitch of UK. before that ottoman’s all the way back to roman empires. hell the jews having the romans kill the jew, jesus is what caused such hatred with many nutjob christians over time. the jews should breed and get a billion people. they have such a tiny population in a sea of christians and muslims and non believers. even the hasidic nuts hate zion.
“60% acquired criminal records” – what a surprise….
The Palestinians have a long history of spitting in the face of those that have welcomed them. The MSM never mentions this instead painting the Palestinians as a poor, unloved, suffering population. Palestinians are at the bottom of the Arab peoples hierarchy, unable to survive on their own without generations of unending trucks of food and medicine welfare from the UN.
Here are a couple of articles that go into more detail on the reasons that not one neighboring Arab country has offered even just Gazan Palestinian woman and children safety out of the war zone.
Why Do the Arabs Hate the Palestinians?
By Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar
September 24, 2020
https://besacenter.org/do-arabs-hate-palestinians/
AND
Worst Houseguests Ever: The Palestinians
December 20, 2023
By: David Anderson, J.D.
https://themoderatevoice.com/worst-houseguests-ever-the-palestinians/
80% of Irish people believe that you can change your sex too.
In the real world, confusion is normal.
1976
East Germans cheats.
Where’s Frank’s gold?
Where’s Don’s bronze?
The difference was Israel was attacked. Attacked by the same ideology threatening Europe right now.
Oh, come on, these people have been attacking each other back-and-forth for 70 years now. Don’t act like this is anything new.
Personally, I would prefer to see all this war spending go into infrastructure and education.
70 years? As I recall, the Jews killed frigging Jesus! The entire concept of a Jewish state concept is a war exercise.
But hey! This situation sure sells bombs and fighters!
As a person that really likes things that go fast and go boom, I’m conflicted…
DAMNIT! The beatings of our own people will continue until Israel submits to our demands! [lol]
Sad for those in the withdrawn countries who lose their opportunities at showing their creativity in this show.
Correct Jojo
What creativity? Most Eurovision songs are garbage and the songs and their performers quickly fade.
And one poster mentioned ABBA, perhaps the only great group to come out of this contest (and they were already a successful group).
I was being as charitable as possible.
Madonna’s last performance on a Eurovision event – pure satanism. Cult member.
bwaahhhhhhhh. so true. rubbish article about rubbish contest.
A South Korean woman represented Australia in the 2016 Eurovision contest and came second 😄
(I think her dress won a few votes…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5yIl98D9GQ&list=RD5ymFX91HwM0&index=2