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The growing controversy over Israel’s Eurovision song entry (www.semafor.com)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by tree@lemmy.zip to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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They couldn't resist breaking the rules lmao, but face no consequences, besides being mad about it

Israel has threatened to withdraw from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest if organizers decide to reject its entry amid wider calls for the country’s exclusion over its military campaign in Gaza.

The European Broadcasting Union is currently reviewing the lyrics of Israel’s entry, a song called “October Rain” by Russian-Israeli singer Eden Golan, which is thought to reference the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. If the EBU decides Israel has breached its rules by submitting content deemed political, the body will allow it to submit new lyrics or a new song.

Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation earlier said it has “no intention to replace the song” if it is not approved, warning that it will pull out of the contest scheduled for May in Malmö, Sweden. Israel’s culture minister has stated that while the song reflects “the current public sentiment in Israel these days,” that doesn’t make it “a political song.”

Israel became the first non-European nation to compete in Eurovision in 1973, and has since won the competition four times.

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[-] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

Most dont participate because Eurovision is gay as fuck and these countries dont like that.

Source?

[-] NIB@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Hungary left because it was too gay.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

while no official reason for the withdrawal was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the website Index.hu speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate

Turkey left because they didnt like the scoring system and because of lgbtq "In August 2018, İbrahim Eren, the Director-General of TRT, stated that TRT does not plan to return to the contest and break the boycott for various reasons, citing Conchita Wurst's participation and eventual victory in 2014."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

Lebanon almost joined but didnt due to Lebanon's laws banning the broadcast of Israeli content. Qatar, is outside of EBU, but kinda wanted to join but things seem to not have progressed since then. Tunisia tried to join but eventually withdrew because of Israel. Morocco participated once in the past, didnt do well and left. They also have issues with Israel.

Generally their main issue is Israel but do you honestly think they would be ok with a song like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaolVEJEjV4

It is just that their Israel issue supersedes their issues with lgbtq. But if somehow everyone in Middle East loved Israel tomorrow, most of them would still abstain from Eurovision because of the lgbtq. In many of these countries, women arent even allowed to wear a miniskirt, do you think they would be willing to show Eurovision uncensored?

PS Turkey even won Eurovision in 2003, and had plenty of top 5 finishes in the following years.

[-] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

So based on your comment, Arab and north African nations didn't refuse participating because it's gay. It's because the organization harborsca genocidal entity (Israel).

they would be ok with a song like this?

Yeah I don't see the issue and I'm an Arab myself. There's homophobia in our land, but I'm not sure why you people act like we're the only exceptionally homophobic place on earth. I sense its a projection of how your nations handled homophobia at its peak. Arab nations are unlikely to have a song like this of their own, but they won't boycott the competition for it.

most of them would still abstain from Eurovision because of the lgbtq.

Wrong and you have nothing to prove this :)

In many of these countries, women arent even allowed to wear a miniskirt

Wrong. There's probably like one or two countries that do this (depending on how far east you are including). Saudi Arabia is the notable one (the state created by Britain), and Iran if you go that far east.

Turkey

Hungary

Not Arab or north African.

[-] NIB@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

Do you think that Hungary and Turkey are more conservative than your average arab nation? If lgbtq is an issue for these countries, dont you think it is safe to assume that this will be an issue for most arab countries?

[-] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 2 points 8 months ago

Given that Hungary literally bs outwardly said "we don't like euro vision because it's too gay" and Arabs said "because it harbors a genocidal state", then the evidence is clear. You people have this notion that only Arabs are exceptionally homophobic. What more does Hungary have to do for you to stop Arab exceptionalism?

[-] NIB@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Just the first google results i got

https://www.equaldex.com/surveys/acceptance-of-homosexuality-arab-barometer

According to this poll, only 5-26%(varies a lot by country) of people living in arab states think that homosexuality is an acceptable practice(the rest is no/unsure/did not answer, which might be unfair to lump them all together but still)

And according to this

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/06/25/global-divide-on-homosexuality-persists/

49% of hungarians accept homosexuality

Are you saying that these polls are misleading and that most people in arab countries support lgbtq people/relations/rights? Do you have any polls that support your position?

[-] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

These polls are misleading because they ignore many factors. Yes, it's true middle easterners are less likely to proclaim support for LGBT (and that's what the link you provided prices). In Europe (and particularly Eastern Europe), there's the issue of rampant hate violence against LGBT, often even by their own family. This is pretty rare in the middle east. I would consider this a more important issue than that poll reveals.

This isn't to say the middle east is an LGBT paradise in any sense at all. I still acknowledge it is a homophobic place. Those who are publicly LGBT will unfortunately face rejection and ostracision by society, and most LGBT only keep it secret except to trusted friends and family. Moreover, some middle Eastern governments go after LGBT activists and influencers. I think this doesn't happen much in Eastern Europe anymore (I didn't check every country so I may have missed some).

In the end, it's not all black and white. Two homophobic nations may still handle and express their homophobia differently, and homophobia may not always be the issue on top of mind. The LGBT cause is not something that's top of mind in the middle east like it is in the west, and in the times where it does come up, it is often about a stupid conspiracy theory of the west trying to force LGBT on them, rather than something internal.