I agree that they did not take on the root of the problem. the changes they implemented were all related to the disqualification of joost klein, and in a much lesser extent also the harassment that the israeli delegation was inflicting on other delegations. they are not addressing the underlying tensions and causes that led to that escalation and they are (understandably) terrified of pissing off their biggest sponsor. with that also comes the fact that they explicitly framed the disqualification of russia as a political decision instead of 'the broadcaster broke some rules'. they are choosing to stay silent on an issue that has the whole of europe divided, this is a direct continuation of what they did in 2014 when the ukraine and russia conflict also escalated, except this time it isnt country against country but a country against an impoverished and segregated minority group.

Ukrainians set an example of how nations need to stand up to powerful bullies in the world, including Putin, and in Canada's case, now Trump. This is how we preserve our nation, values, culture and traditions from others who want to take them from us. Good report Start!

I will vote for DK Enerhetyk

Thank you for letting us speak. Чудове інтервʼю, пані Ірино!

i am voting for ziferblat... i liked them last year but this time i've fallen in love.

Thank you, guys! As a Ukrainian, as a eurofan, I thank you for such important things you talk about.

Yep, Ukraine is one of the powerhouses of Eurovision through hard work and talent. Always love their entries 😊

Were just a few months away from boycotting again 🎉

I think 2024 was unique in the way as the hole contest felt hostage. Im sure Svt, EBU or the city of Malmö didnt intended to be in the middle of the fight that were fought everywhere in the world. Also i find it hard to argue for Israels inclusion that the EBU delivered. Cuz if the EBU would have been true to its non-political motives since day one we would technically still have to accept Russia and Belarus in that competition. Also i think Israel can technically be disqualifiedd by the various accusations of KAN perposely hussling other, especially anti-Israeli artist. This would have been a reason that KAN may sits one out, and gets told that this behaviour is inacceptable. In the end the EBU finally needs to decide to either bow to the political background that is intense with Israel and some other Countries or if its standing up for its brand and exclude everyone that endangers the idea and concept. Eurovision is not the TedTalk and its time that the EBU fights for its neutrality it suppose to have. The depute of Israel and the Middle East doesnt belong here. Neither from the "Free Palestine" Club nor from the Zionists on the otherside. SRG and Basel have the opportunity to bring the glory back, but its surely needs more longterm then the small changes the EBU presented. Im atleast not hoping for a repeat, cuz i felted pretty dead after 2024 and the music played hardly a role anymore.

Ziferblat!🫠❤✌️

Ziferblat ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

A truly fantastic video again, so insightful, thank you so much. I really am trying to find the exact right way to phrase this, and I'm sorry if I do end up making mistakes. In my heart of hearts, deep down in my gut, I KNOW that I want Ukraine at Eurovision still and that they absolutely deserve to be there. I also know I don't want Israel at Eurovision and that they shouldn't be allowed to participate. There's obviously nuances involved such as the Israeli delegation especially in Malmö being terribly disrespectful, the song being constantly adjusted to "not be political" and so on and so forth. I'd call Hurricane political despite these "changes", especially with it now being performed as October Rain again. There's also an argument to be made about the Ukrainian entires being political in a similar way though. Their songs these last 2 years do, in very oversimplified terms, boil down to "we're still here and we'll stay strong". That's not meant to say that the songs shouldn't be like that, I just can see a devil's advocate saying that that's the same level of political as Hurricane. Then there's the element of who initiated the conflict escalations, but the devil's advocate would say that at the end of the day both countries have been involved in military operations leading to deaths. The two situations obviously aren't directly comparable, so maybe I shouldn't be comparing them at all, but it's still the closest thing that we have to a comparison within Eurovision. It's also an argument made by some people (according to my gut in bad faith but I cannot argue with them successfully) that if Israel gets kicked out, so should Ukraine, on approximately those grounds. With all of that said, assuming the Israeli delegation behaves in Basel (unlikely to me but it hasn't happened yet) and both songs end up being similar levels of "political"- is anyone able to put into words why Ukraine should stay and Israel shouldn't be allowed to participate? I do KNOW that that is what I think, but I really cannot put it into any words or "arguments" that can't be taken apart and called hypocritical. I mean this all completely sincerely, it's been bothering me for a while, and I apologise if this isn't the right place for it (feel free to delete the comment if you need to, Stu. I'd geniuenly understand.). I thought it could be because of the ending and Stu's other content. Thank you in advance for any help, and I do apologise if my wording hasn't been correct.

Meh, Israel being there while Russia is not because of beligerance and genocide is still blattanly hypocritical. I will not watch. I will support the artists individually on their platforms but I don't want to normalize the presence of Israel in the contest after everything that is happening, ceasefire is not a peace deal, ceasefire is not an end of occupation. Allowing them on is so transparently about the money that any attempt by the EBU to wash their "reputation" by reminding us that the show is meant to "unite" people feels more like BS than ever.

What a great interview, thanks for giving Ukrainian voices a platform. Ps. I love Fiinka too!

I like Ukraine in Eurovision. I don't like the racist attitude that Jerry Heil has taken toward Palestinians by calling them terrorists.

Ukraine is the only country from the eastern bloc that has actually maintained a strong presence (placement streak) where others slowly faded by the 2010's.. Ukraine is still kicking ass, my goodness they're 4th crown is not too long too seee.. SLAVA UKRAINI

Stu, I just subscribed!

I honestly feel so torn. Eurovision is my favorite thing but Israel’s participation (which I have always ignored since I started watching in 2012 by never listening to the songs) makes it so hard to enjoy now. I am trying to almost force myself to enjoy it like I used to but with this enormous campaign for votes that Israel has been doing I just feel so… hopeless. I stand with the people of Palestine and it is a straight on genocide and I still don’t get why Israel is allowed to even participate yet I can’t seem to boycott the contest

I'm from Israel and I love music and I also love other nations' music and I love not getting killed (this is what could have happened to me on october 7th 2023 if hamas' plan would have worked.) Thankfully, Israel has a strong army and a right to defend itself. So Hell yeah, we are still at war. People get killed at war. Plus, we still have hostages waiting to come back to us, after more than a year, being held in terrible conditions in life-death state. Please understand. I just want to live and love. People want me dead just because I am a Jew living in Israel who never did anything wrong to people I never met, except for existing.

tommy cash is making me want coffee and i dont like coffee

9:23 Beautifully put 😂

And yes: Not only Israel's actions in Eurovision ruining my expiriance. Personally for me, possible 8th victory of Sweden because of Mans is ruining my experience also. Because it feels like the winner is predetermined already and the rest countries don't matter. No matter what song/artist rest countries will choose, Sweden stiil will won. Even not Sweden, Israel and Ukraine will win because of so calling "huge diaspora voting". Can we have competition when only song matters with addition perfomance which help us to understand songs and their values? Without any politics/abba celebration factor? Can we have "let the best song/song with perfomance win"? That why I love 2021 contest so much: we celebrate music together, a lot of great/slayed performances and the best song with performances were in the top. Eurovision should focus on this stuff neither "Let's give another win to Sweden so Sweden can have 8th win and break Ireland's record for most wins".

Great video I only add that Israel shows why banning Russia was a great idea. Because Russia would do the same stuff as Israel doing right now. Trust Russian who lives in Russia. It's happens since 2014. And the fact that Netanyahu is Putin's friend shows even more similarities between Russia and Israel. So there are a lot of double standarts happen right now and only time will show who is right.

I both appreciate and find it really strange that us Aussies are even in Eurovision in 2025... We are just for fun (and funding through SBS) participants right...imagine if we won how fun would it be to literally host a Eurovision on the other side of the globe Maybe this is the solution everyone gets a beach holiday, lovely sunshine and a sanga from bunnings jokes aside I really feel for all the horrible things that are happening, Im doing what I can to be both neutral and informed on important topics

you are not telling the truth, the Hamas in Gasa used his own people as Humanshild, so the Hamas is der Murder of his own People not Israel. Please dont make mistakes

I think countries should not be disqualified in the first place: f.e. Azerbaijan was never disqualified during the invasion of Armenia All of the participating countries had their wars. No one will ever mourn for disqualification of Israel if Russia was disqualified. Also, Russia was disqualified on the second day of their war, when even most of their disgusting war crimes were not committed. Also, Belarus was disqualified just based on the dictatorship in their country. How is that even compare with what Israel did?

She is truly a special and strong girl, she sings amazingly like the greatest singers, listen for example to "Warrior" or "Dancing Queen", who cares about the whole environment, just listen to pure music, she is really one of the greats and has a huge voice, I will vote for her anyway, and I will keep my fingers crossed for her to win because she deserves it.

Embarrassing video. Nuff said.

When and who created the “United though/by music” … ??? Can we say “Diversity through music”?

I don’t think we should be at all the rehearsals. Let the country artists prepare without such surveillance. Let’s hold off until the live semi and finals.

I don’t think we should be at all the rehearsals. Let the country artists prepare without such surveillance. Let’s hold off until the live semi and finals.

I genuinely don't think "returning to normal" should be a goal, not when normal means ignoring atrocities. The Palestinian struggle didn't begin in October 2023, and it will not end with this new fragile ceasefire. The 'norm' of peace surrounding Israel's participation in the show pre 2024 wasn't due to them not committing atrocities back then too, it was due to a lack of awareness from the wider audience about the country's actions. However turbulent it was, I'm glad 2024 opened a lot of people's eyes to the fact that Eurovision has always been used as a propaganda tool. I still hope we can enjoy the contest despite that, but being more critical about the media we consume is never a bad thing.

to be fair, even if Israel wins, they likely wouldn't host it next year due to the war and stuff. it will likely go to the runner-up, just like how the UK hosted it in 2023 after Ukraine won in 2022.

The ebu will not get rid of Israel ,there big sponsor is Moroccan oil which is also an Israeli company hopefully they find a new sponsor and remove them...

Last year it was a racist😊

If, for the sake of argument, you thought that Israel is NOT committing genocide (although accused to), what do you think should happen with Israel in Eurovision?

You make some very solid points. As you said, the bigger picture of what's going on in the world matters and can not be just labeled as "drama." However, I feel that you neglect to look at a few aspects. Before going on I'll need to clear a few things up: 1. I am Israeli - not by choice or political statement, just born and raised here. Not much I or anybody else can do about that fact. 2. I do not, and have no intention of, "representing" or "defending" Israel in any official capacity, its government or its institutions etc. Any referral I make to Israel comes from my personal experience and understanding. 3. This is a debate about Eurovision, and as a dedicated fan for more than 20 years, that is the only prism through which I believe my point of view is of interest in this discussion. I have no ability or intention to discuss the current situation which has been marring all life in my region. 4. Since this is a discussion of how politics have been affecting Eurovision, I will be talking about stuff relating to that - Israel Gaza, etc., but this is only for the sake of discussing the subject at hand here. Please remember points 2 and 3 I just made here. So what do I actually want? I have a few thoughts about the matter which I believe merit being a part of this discussion. 1. The first one, which is probably the most sensitive: Eurofans need to take a bit more responsibility over their own reactions. Of course, it is futile and stupid to expect people to just forget the world behind and pretend like everything is perfect and just shut up and play nice, and suppress their freedom of expression for the sake of decorum. I fully accept and understand people's sense of moral obligation to express their protest to a highly dire and acute situation. What I'm talking about is that eventually, if for the sake of those expressions you choose to take actions that influence your surroundings, you need to take responsibility over the outcome. If you boo a performance, the vibe will go bad - no matter if you're a fan from Spain who booed Israel or and Israeli fan who booed an artist whose opinions you didn't like, like say Ireland, or if you're a Dutch fan booing Martin about a matter no one was yet 100% sure about at the moment. If the surrounding events will be filled with arguments, belligerent and/or unwelcoming behavior - so will the atmosphere be, whatever the "side" you're on or the reason for it. The EBU and its decisions can only be held accountable for an extent. If Eurofans want a better fandom experience, we first need to take ourselves responsibility over the experience we create for ourselves and others, be it whatever we choose it to be. That similarly goes to artists and delegations. The Israeli delegation cannot complain that it has been treated unfairly and unfriendly when its people went around annoying other delegations and initiating arguments only to garner sympathy from home audience when they upload it on social media, and then blame others for creating bad atmosphere. Bambi Thug cannot spend so much energy on saying negative things (whatever be the reason) on another contestant and then blame the EBU for creating a negative environment. And so on. When you fart in an elevator, it stinks for everybody, no matter how much your stomach was aching. 2. For the bigger political picture: As you say in the video, EBU has not banned Israel because the EBU cannot ban countries, but rather broadcasting authorities. When the Russian TV was banned, the EBU stated it has done so due to their breaching of journalistic standards expected byt the EBU, and not because of the Russian government's decision to invade Ukraine. Similarly, KAN needs to be found breaching similar or other rules/expectation/whatever they're called, as long as they pertain to what the EBU does, which media and journalism. The EBU's mandate does not allow it to take action against governments (And no, Israel's president involvement is not enough to justify what will be perceived as a political persecution of a journalistic agency, simply because a. Israeli presidents are not political figures and have no political power or mandate and b. he was only "arbitrating" and the whole matter could very easily be dismissed). This is the point to remember the bigger picture the EBU, and the whole of Europe, find themselves in. The whole world is in the process of over-simplifying politics, sinking into wars of populistic rhetoric where things like people's choice of entertainment, choice of bathroom, or even simply skin color are carelessly mixed with things like corruption, alarming high level of cost of living, and wars which kill masses. The EBU, and its Eurovision brand, carry a big target on their back: Its message of unity in song and sparkly dance can be very easily tagged as a lefty-fa**oty scheme to take over the world and force everyone to wear Madonna's cone bra as they stand in line with their food stamps to get some leftover bread from the Commies. In fact, countries like Hungary and Turkey have already done so (well, not exactly in these words, but you get it). The EBU is only strong as the mandate (and funding) it is given by its members. I wish to remind you, that among the backlash ESC 2024 received, was that the queer content exceeded "good taste" (mainly due to the UK's performance) and was a bit "shoved down the throat" (conservative heteros do like that expression to a peculiar extent). The ESC 2025 team has already declared that the Basel event will be more "family-oriented," which is normally a nice way of saying "less gay," as if we had neither families nor orientations. In this context, I believe it becomes a bit clearer as to why the EBU is reluctant to take an action that would very easily be perceived as a political side-choosing that clearly violates its mandate and make it vulnerable to forces who'd use that to harm and even cancel the whole endeavor. One last point, which I am not sure many people outside of Israel are too aware of, is that the EBU has a an interest in protecting KAN. You see, Israel is still eventually a democracy, even if a flawed one. Most of its actions are eventually the result of inner politics, as is the situation in all most other countries. Since it was established, KAN has been targeted by the right-wing government as a waste of public money and a hub of subversive and anti-patriotic propaganda due to KAN's refusal to align with the government's own propaganda. Even now, where KAN definitely did change its tune to play along more nationalistic sentiments (as did practically all the media in Israel), it still remains a relatively solid source for true free press - freed from both the government's and advertisers' censorship. Now, as weird as it might sound, the EBU membership is one of KAN's strongest cards in the debate over its legitimacy, professionalism and journalistic integrity. And the EBU knows it well, and has tried a few time to intervene on behalf of KAN and its mission of press freedom, admonishing Israeli government of the dangers and ramifications of messing or even closing this public service. And while int he past i helped, unfortunately, the government's at it again, and a bill to eliminate KAN is again on the table as if it's the most crucial thing in the world and there isn't a f*cking war going on. The ESC is the jewel in the crown of EBU membership, and I am sure all Eurofans who have met Israeli fans and/or have been here for 2019 know how much Israelis care about Israel's participation in the contest. Taking that away from KAN is genuinely a fatal blow to an important factor in maintaining the debate in Israel needs in order to try and make better decisions to offer a brighter future to everyone in the region. Looking at Turkey, Hungary, Russia, Belarus, as well of how insignificant the BDS movement has been in the last 20-something years in actually influencing Israeli debate and mindset and thus the suffering of Palestinians - it's time that people in the West realize that boycotting and cancelling whole countries and societies does very little more than allow the boycotter to signal their virtue and feel superior, while in those countries where it should have been effective, it is only effective in giving oppressive and belligerent forces good examples to why "everybody else hates us so f*ck them, let's spite them all." I apologize for the length and hope this adds for the debate that hopefully will allow everyone to go back to enjoy Eurovision as we all deserve.

All they have to do is suspend Israel from participating and more than half the controversy will get thanos snapped and they'll have revived Eurovision.

Justice for Joost Klein

Joost should have won

Joost should have won

First of all, thank you so much for this video. It was really interesting ! For me Eurovision was always about listening songs with friends, talking about who deserve to win and discuss about countries, artist, songs,... and just enjoy the show. But last year it was very different... Some of my friends decided not to watch it because of the tragic events taking place in Gaza (which of course I could understand) but it went further. Some of them made us feel guilty for watching Eurovision anyway. Not to mention the international climate which was tense, it had also become tense in our group, because of the Eurovision. And because of all that I couldn't really enjoy the 2024 edition and "simply" concentrate on what made me love Eurovision : music. Concerning this year, I have resumed my annual habits where I watch the national finals, making my top tier list of song, etc but I still have this fear that this year will be the same as the previous one... I simply hope that this year things will be better, that there will be no drama (as it was the case regarding the behavior of certain artists or the exclusion of the Netherlands) and that the situation at the international level (mostly with Israel) is improving, in a good direction.

I love joost and I feel so bad he got disqualified for nothing 💔

👏👏 great video

Just ban Israel already.

I also think that just creating some jobs at a higher level at EBU won't solve something. EBU must realize that Israel currently has a very bad reputation with TV-watching Europe and that we cannot have a party with a warring participating country. They should drop Moroccon Oil and find other sponsors. The booing will undoubtedly happen again this year but this time too it will be censored. How can you feel joy and peace with a country that keeps fighting with its surrounding countries?

13:09 Especially a Ukrainian person "realizing the entire show is propaganda" only in 2024 made me giggle.

Honestly, this video makes you turn into an apologist for the 7th of October Hamas massacre. It can't get any more worse than this. Why not apply for a job at their publicity office?

great video, subscribed. love these type of long form, essay-type videos when it comes to eurovision. i'm surprised there hasn't been a documentary or film made about the controversy surrounding eurovision 2024 by any major streaming networks or tv channels; there was certainly a lot that occurred. in regard to israel's participation in 2025, it seems that they want to make a statement of similar volume to 2024, hence the one million dollar investment. i think the commenter from israel in this video mentioning that israel's continued participation is a product of "spite" is very valid, and will ring more true the closer we get to the grand final. i believe they want to win, too. which i feel would be self-defeating in the sense that Israel are constantly in the news, so why add to it? it bemuses me why they would want to stay in the limelight. the world has seen what they are doing. keep these videos coming, love it :)

Baby lasagna was way better just wtf this is a guy dressed up like a girl 😂 and wtf is Israel doing in this contest their killing innocent civilians babies and children in Palestine this is not fare