How come Israel keeps getting 12 points from us in the Eurovision public vote?
I mean, there's obviously something going on. Public sentiment towards Ukraine is still strong and you still see yellow and blue flags flying but sympathy for Israel was never as strong and it's since massively died off given how they've reacted. The vote is clearly not a reflection of genuine public opinion. But what's going on, are certain people just voting loads of times?
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My limited understanding of Eurovision is that it has always been rigged.
They changed the rules in 2016, before then it genuinely was a direct democratic vote
I'll give you 3 answers, you pick your favourite:
You chose which you'd like to believe the most
Fourth reason: Apolitical. Does not know anything going on in the world and likes the song or does not care because it doesn't concern them.
Do you have a source for the 3rd point? I would like to read more about it.
Ok I've spent a hell of a lot of time trying to find it for you but can't anymore.
Maybe I'm having a case of the Mandela effect, who knows.
There is definitely something fishy going on. For a song that was apparently so popular with the public last year, it amazingly dropped out of top 20 streamed songs within days. Keep an eye on the streaming charts this year. As Israel's entry was apparently the most popular with the public this year, it would make sense for it to stay in top 20 for quite some time. Only time will tell
I'll see if I can find what I read last year, but may take some time
It's weird they're in a European singing contest to begin with...
Ehh, the North African and Mediterranean Asian countries are all eligible to enter and just choose not to. It has nevsr been strictly European. There are much better reasons to not invite Israel
Didnt they leave to boycott something something?
I think Lebanon is the only one that has officially said they weren't joining in because of Israel. They had an entry prepared for 2005 but the EBU wouldn't agree to edit out Israel's parts for Lebanese broadcast. It might still be part of the reasoning for the others, but it could just be a lack of interest too. I honestly don't know. Morocco actually did compete in 1980 but did terribly and have not come back since. They are all still members of the EBU and therefore eligible to enter if they choose to
It's not really "European" exactly; it's a competition for member nations of the European Broadcast Union, and eligibility criteria for joining that is to be in the "European Broadcasting Area"; which, long story short, includes the whole Mediterranean area.
Is Australia in the European Broadcasting Area?
No, they're a weird special case who have been invited for no obvious reason other than that it makes for a good Eurovision (which, to be fair, is a decent reason).
Everyone else who participates meets the normal criteria though (Israel included).
Australians I've spoken to have mixes feelings. On the one hand, there's a subculture of ozzies who love it because it's the only camp entertainment that gets broadcast out there. They have Eurovision parties and so on, getting together to watch it. Having Australia in the competition might persuade broadcasters to show more camp/silly entertainment.
On the other hand, they agree it's silly to join and still have it called Eurovision, and are worried Australia might taint it somehow
The EBU is open to broadcasters in the ITU Europe region. These regions are in no small part defined by the British Empire’s telegraph routes. Europe then being Europe, and the nations in which the Mediterranean shore stations of the telegraph network were located, and then fill in the gaps.
Israel supporters only have to vote for one country while the other votes are split between 25 others.
You can vote 20 times from any one phone number, and they don’t check if two numbers (or 200) are owned by the same person. And SIM cards aren’t that expensive. Goosing a Eurovision contestant’s vote would be relatively cheap and involve no breaking of any actual rules, let alone laws.
Maybe when the European Digital ID scheme comes in, they can use this to restrict votes per person, though this would still leave countries like the UK, Switzerland, Armenia/Georgia/Azerbaijan and Australia open to manipulation, unless they locked down their voting similarly. And you want something like Eurovision to be relatively frictionless, as it’s meant to be a party rather than a serious exercise in democratic governance.
I think people who support Israel really really support Israel. UK in general has lost interest in Eurovision as everyone hates UK. So fewer voters with one agenda voted a lot vs a few pensioners splitting their vote between macciato and those handsome country men with guitars.
The UK have something of a history when it comes to popular music. Quite frankly, taking Eurovision seriously is beneath us.
The UK public at large is not interested in Eurovision, beyond the camp/kitschy tv broadcast where the tradition is that the presenter basically takes the piss.
The UK performed were robbed this year. 0 televote points? Not warranted.
*the few times I've watched Eurovision, I've not agreed with the public or jury, so my definition of not particularly good might not be relevant.
Why is a middle east country even in Eurovision?
Because they paid good money for those votes
(Well, technically, actually evil money)
the IHRA seemingly works really well.
Those I know who are into Eurovision are boycotting it while Israel is allowed to attend. So among the political viewers the anti-israel vote has mostly self-purged (and the remaining non-boycotters anti-israel votes are split amongst the other 30-or-so entries), while the pro-israel political vote still remains in the competition.
It's much easier to vote for one country to win (like with Ukraine, or Israel I suppose) than it is to vote so that only one doesn't win (because the votes will be split with no clear opponent).
But I'm just guessing, I'm not ajour with Eurovision politics.
Don't vote "any other", all of you commit to one before hand.