Israel has a really difficult time being one of the countries that takes part in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. And it will not be precisely because of all the voices and protests that have asked to eliminate them from the competition as was done with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, but because their song has been rejected by the political references it includes and, to make matters worse, the country’s public channel, KAN, refuses to change it.
The song October Rain contained prohibited mentions according to the strict regulations of the contest. More specifically, he spoke of attack that Hams committed on October 7 against the civilian population that was enjoying a music festival in the south of the country and in which 250 people died.
According to a public broadcaster worker cited by the local newspaper The Times of Israelthere is a dialogue underway between the European Broadcasting Union and KAN to negotiate under what terms it can be accepted or if, on the contrary, it ends up certifying the country’s disqualification for the festival. We have to choose a song that reflects our situation, said one of the members of the national preselection jury.
The Georgia precedent and the Zorra case
This decision by the organizing body of the Eurovision Song Contest has quite a few precedents. Although it is not entirely usual to knock down an entire song, they already did it with Georgia in 2009. The reason, in that case, was also political, since the ex-Soviet republic raised a topic, We Don’t Wanna Put In, which made constant references to the politician Vladimir Putin. Georgia, far from modifying the song or choosing another candidate, withdrew her candidacy.
Spain has also faced restrictions from the European Broadcasting Union on at least one occasion. It was with the historical Baila el chiki-chiki by Rodolfo Chikilikuatre, in which Spanish Television was forced to suppress references to politicians Hugo Chávez, Mariano Rajoy and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
This same year, after Zorra’s election at the Benidorm Fest, there was speculation that something similar could happen, considering the term that gives its name to the title as an insult. However, The organization understood that, since there were many interpretations of the title, the song was perfectly eligible for this year.
