In this astonishing article from El Diario in Spain, leaked internal documents demonstrate how the EBU has implemented recommendations made post-2024, and their attitude towards Israel's participation. 🧵 This is going to need one of these... https://www.eldiario.es/vertel...
1/ The EBU sent a letter to the Israeli delegation on the day of the 2024 Grand Final. This letter stated that the Israeli media and commentators had broken the ESC rules and made discriminatory comments, with comments made about Bambie Thug specifically highlighted.
2/ The letter, signed by Reference Group Chair Bakel Walden and Executive Supervisor Martin Ă–sterdahl, also confirmed Israel's delegation had had to be moved from the delegation bubble because of other countries' complaints. For all this, KAN were served only with a warning.
3/ El Diario published the EBU's roadmap for the contest based on an independent review. It said they "recognise that with the increase of (geo)political tensions, the EBU and ESC are increasingly exposed to reputational damage from these external forces." Israel is not named.
4/ In many ways, there are differences between the recommendations the review made and the EBU's subsequent roadmap. One recommendation references "strengthening external communication" - but in 2025, there was reduced access for media and journalists to cover the event.
5/ El Diario argues that the EBU has instead taken steps to silence negative noises about Eurovision. For example, Martin Ă–sterdahl not doing his usual "good to go" - it's reported that he wanted to do this in Junior Eurovision, but didn't after RTVE refused to silence the boos.
6/ The roadmap also states that "the EBU must exercise a heightened duty of care toward" artists. But another point made in the roadmap is that artists "must fully understand and respect the rules and protocols." New flag rules have made artist expression more restrictive.
7/ Overall, after #Eurovision this year, the EBU is under pressure from its member broadcasters to protect the spirit of the event. With Israel being named by those broadcasters, the EBU may now have to tackle the concerns of its members more directly.
8/ And with news emerging today that Martin Österdahl's "work with Eurovision...is scheduled to end in spring next year”, we could now be entering a crucial point in how the EBU decides to approach #Eurovision moving forward. https://www.hemhyra.se/nyheter...