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The 2025 contest will take place in Basel, Switzerland, between May 13 – May 17. Israel appeared on the list of participating countries published on December 15.
By ELIAV BREUER DECEMBER 17, 2024 15:15 Updated: DECEMBER 17, 2024 15:28
A person holds a flag during the Grand Final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo, Sweden, May 12, 2024.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)
A bill proposal being pushed by Communications Minister MK Shlomo Karhi to privatize Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, known by its brand name Kan, would “almost certainly” lead to its exclusion from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and therefore, Israel will no longer be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU’s communications team confirmed on Tuesday in response to a query.
The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition organized annually by the EBU, in which each participating country submits an original song to be performed live and transmitted to national broadcasters. The competition is only open to public service broadcasters that are members of the EBU, and is considered an important international cultural event. According to the EBU, approximately 163 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2024 event in Malmo, Sweden, and votes were cast from 156 countries.
The 2025 contest will take place in Basel, Switzerland, between May 13 – May 17. Israel appeared on the list of participating countries published on December 15, but the EBU’s response to the aforementioned query indicated this could change if Karhi’s bill passes into law.
The bill passed its preliminary vote in the Knesset on November 27. The EBU issued a statement three days earlier expressing “deep concern” over the bill. The statement quoted Israel’s Deputy Attorney General, Avital Sompolinski, who expressed “serious concern that the proposal is also motivated by the desire to stop the corporation’s broadcasts due to the content it airs,” and said that it “joins a series of proposals being advanced at this time that threaten the corporation’s (Kan’s) independence and ability to fulfil its public roles.”
In the statement, EBU Director General Noel Curran was quoted as saying, "Public service broadcasting in Israel is under sustained political attack, facing threats that not only jeopardize its independence but its very existence in the future.”
"Closing the corporation is a gift to BDS,” said Eran Cicurel, editor of the international news desk on Kan Reshet Bet radio. “For an entire year, our enemies have tried to fight Israel's right to participate in Eurovision, and now Karhi is doing their job for them by removing Israel from Eurovision?”
Eurovision a 'critical arena for Israeli advocacy,' KAN editor says
“The song contest has long been more than just a musical event; it is a critical arena for Israeli advocacy,” Cicurel continued. “It's a way to assert our presence on a continent that expelled us 80 years ago and is trying to do it again today through radical left-wing organizations. Does Karhi really want to give the radical left in Europe this prize? Because that's exactly what he's doing," Cicurel said.
The bill’s preamble states, “The Public Broadcasting Corporation’s budget comprises two sources: a government budget fixed by law and linked to the Consumer Price Index; and a budget based on collecting a vehicle radio fee. This budget amounts to NIS 800 million. This is a very high sum, and even those who believe in the importance of public broadcasting are taken aback by its size.”
In an age of multi-channel television and widely accessible Internet, “the claim that public broadcasting is needed in order to provide a response to the multiculturalism that exists in Israel is no longer relevant,” the bill’s authors wrote.
However, according to a post on X by Cicurel on December 2, most countries with approximately 10 million citizens had a higher budget for their public broadcasting corporations. These include Austria, Sweden, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Only Portugal had a slightly smaller budget than Israel’s.
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The Knesset Economics Committee will convene on Wednesday morning to discuss Karhi’s policies towards Kan, with them minister in attendance. At issue will be the fact that he refused to extend the tenure of some members of Kan’s executive committee, effectively paralysing it. The committee will also likely address other bills being advanced by Karhi, such as a bill to increase government involvement the rating measuring mechanism.
The privatization bill stipulates that the Kan’s executive council will first have to present to the communications minister, the finance minister, and the governmental regulator of commercial broadcasting (the Second Authority for Television and Radio) a list of the corporation’s assets. Under the bill, within a year of receiving the list, the Second Authority for Television and Radio will publish a tender to select a licensee for television broadcasts. Six months after that, the Second Authority for Television and Radio will announce its decision on the winner of the tender. If no winner is chosen, “the Public Broadcasting Corporation will cease to broadcast and will cease all activity connected to broadcasting within two years of this law coming into effect.”
As far as radio is concerned, under the bill, all of Kan’s radio broadcasts will cease within two years of the bill becoming law, apart from the broadcasts of Reshet Bet (mainly news and current affairs). Within a year of receiving the list of assets, the Second Authority for Television and Radio will publish a tender for a national radio broadcasting licensee for that radio station. The bill states that the licensee will be allowed to broadcast advertising, sponsorships, and public service announcements.
The bill was identical to a bill proposed by Karhi in the past, but was officially proposed by MK Tally Gotliv (Likud), in order to circumvent the legal review that is necessary for any government legislation. As a minister, Karhi cannot propose private legislation.
Karhi’s office has yet to respond to a request for comment.
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