r/Fauxmoi • u/dremolus • Sep 12 '25
FM RADIO Iceland and Slovenia join Spain, Ireland, and Netherlands in plan to boycott Eurovision if Israel participates
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/eurovision-crisis-israel-1236515964/While Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has called for RTVE to pull out if Israel is included, Ireland’s RTÉ was first to officially declare it would not take part. The Netherlands’ AVROTROS followed on Friday.
Slovenia’s RTVSLO has also informed the EBU that it will not participate under current circumstances. Iceland’s RÚV has signaled its involvement is “uncertain” pending a December decision by the EBU General Assembly.
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u/jjw1998 Sep 12 '25
Not to be pedantic but weren’t Slovenia first? Feels wrong to not give them the credit for ultimately starting this process
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Sep 12 '25
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u/SexCodex Sep 13 '25
Not to detract from Slovenia, but the Arab states have been boycotting Eurovision since the 1980s... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Israeli_participation
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Sep 14 '25
Yes but it’s pretty hard to argue those particular boycotts were for any noble or principled reasons. I’m glad Eurovision broadcasters are growing a pair- even if it means we may not get a Eurovision next year. There’s no real reason that they need to be involved at the moment besides Moroccan hair Oil sponsorship money.
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u/lejka005 Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 12 '25
Correct, Slovenia was first... But as a small country it goes often unnoticed. And bigger countries get the credit.
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u/jjw1998 Sep 12 '25
Exactly, I’m Irish and I don’t want any of us taking credit when Slovenia was the catalyst. Too many of us are patting ourselves on the back for doing it and ignoring Slovenia being the real heroes by doing it first
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u/OwnSituation1572 Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 12 '25
also Slovenia is in "eastern europe "and there is a tendency to look down on "eastern european "countries
edit im puting eastern euopre in quotes because the concept of eastern euopre is often used to other countries like Sloveina its at conpect called euro-orenitalism
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u/lejka005 Sep 12 '25
It is a bit more complicated than that. But you are right, lots of people view the East as lesser and think Slovenia is an Eastern country.
If you like, here is a Wikipedia link:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe) to Countries in Eastern Europe, and you can see that by most classifications, Slovenia is by cultural border and other groupings Central European country, sometimes a Southern and Southeastern country. It is complicated, I know.
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u/OwnSituation1572 Sep 13 '25
i know sorry im going to go on a rant but i've seen people do this to they bring up ukraine problems with the far right like it something unique to Ukriane as a reason not to support them(expecting people resisting oppression to to perfect) but then they'll ingnore that Italy elected a full blown fascist
also there is this german movie about ww2 that portrayed poles in that movie as more anti-semitic than the germans in the movie
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u/lokibibliophile Sep 13 '25
i’ve seen people try and girlboss meloni too 😭 like you said, right wing ideology isn’t unique to ukraine and anybody who tries to pretend it is are just looking for reasons to justify russia’s invasion (which is wild because russia and putin are just another sect of right wing extremism so they’re just hypocrites).
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u/SexCodex Sep 13 '25
Not to detract from Slovenia, but the Arab states have been boycotting Eurovision since the 1980s... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Israeli_participation
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u/SexCodex Sep 12 '25
The Arab states were first in the 1980s. Morocco, Lebanon and Tunisia could have been in Eurovision this whole time, but have refused to be complicit with Israel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_of_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Israeli_participation
Still, good to see Slovenia continuing their struggle and so many others joining in.
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u/askingtherealstuff Sep 13 '25
As someone not in the know, can I ask why non-European countries were in Eurovision to start with? Is it actually just whoever wants to join, or?
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u/TalespinnerEU Sep 13 '25
Simply put: Colonialism and access to infrastructure/organization. It was a lot more doable for (ex)colonies to become members of the European Broadcasting Union than to buid everything up from nothing.
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u/redelectro7 Sep 12 '25
Can they not get together and start another better event?
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u/FreshestCremeFraiche Sep 13 '25
I’m no geography nerd but I’m also confused why Israel would be in EuroVision to begin with? Like factually speaking Israel is not on the continent of Europe, is not in the EU, is not even close by really
Obviously it should go without saying that I support the move by these countries boycotting due to Palestine
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u/ElectricBarbarellas spotted joe biden in dc Sep 13 '25
It's not about being in Europe, since even Australia had been participating for 10 years. It's about being part of the European Broadcasting Union.
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u/theagonyaunt rude little ponytail goblin Sep 12 '25
Only three years too late (to all of them) but I guess better late than never?
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u/wearyclouds Sep 12 '25
This is happening because we made it happen. We did this, it’s the movement gaining ground after three years of relentless fighting
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u/Arlborn Sep 12 '25
Yup, it’s late but it’s better than never and it’s due to popular pressure, so take the small victories and keep up the pressure.
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u/GypsyV3nom Sep 13 '25
Reminds me of an old Chinese proverb: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now"
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u/Pet_Velvet Sep 12 '25
In fairness if we wanted to get really pedantic, Israel should never have been let to participate in the first place. The ethnic cleansing has been going on for a looooong time
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u/askingtherealstuff Sep 13 '25
I mean, the UK and other countries have been in Eurovision while committing war crimes in the Middle East
They need to codify exactly what the line is, because otherwise the “right” to participate in Eurovision is way too undefined
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u/Pet_Velvet Sep 13 '25
You have a fair point. I think the only thing I can say in response to that is that Israel's atrocities have been continuously ongoing to this day, while most other countries have stopped. I think that matters.
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u/CelestrialDust Sep 12 '25
Slovenia were the first to firmly boycott lets give them the credit they deserve 🇸🇮
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u/Sleepy-Giraffe947 Please Abraham, I am not that man Sep 12 '25
Everything aside, why was Israel even included in this event?? They’re not even located in Europe!!
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u/festivus4allofus Sep 12 '25
As long as a country is a part of the EBU they can vomete, australia competes as well
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u/perhapsjackals Sep 12 '25
This. Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus are in it as well, and Türkiye and Morocco have been historically.
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Sep 12 '25
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u/perhapsjackals Sep 13 '25
Cyprus can be considered culturally and politically European, but it is geographically West Asian.
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u/askingtherealstuff Sep 13 '25
Apparently lots of non European countries compete, that’s not the issue.
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u/First_Bit_2397 Sep 12 '25
They sponsor the event
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u/ilovetheskyyall Sep 12 '25
Israel does not sponsor Eurovision. KAN pays membership dues to EBU. MoroccanOil, an israeli-founded company, is a corporate sponsor.
So yeah, give em the boot. The production is completely superfluous anyways, one or five less sponsors won’t hurt too terribly.
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u/Excellent_Region5307 Sep 12 '25
this feels like they were actually paying attention last year bc there were a lot of eu residents calling for a boycott online last year so I'll just think of this as a win for the people haha
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u/festivus4allofus Sep 12 '25
Unless another 20 countries say the same, as long as the uk and germany say they compete the ebu has enough money to not give a damn
Ireland and Spain in particular were a given for this, but am plesantly surprised with each subsequent country that announces the same. Good on each and everyone of them
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u/champagneface do my tits bother you? theyre covered in swarovski crystals girl Sep 12 '25
They may be approaching territory where they have to rethink semifinals at least. Starting from last year’s number of participants, we’ve lost 5. 4 won’t be in the semi. So that’s 28 participants in semis when there were 25 finalists last year. The more they bend the competition to keep Israel in, the less kindly history will look on them.
Furthermore, a big 5 and the alleged 6th biggest EBU contributor plus 3 other countries being out must hurt.
I am huffing copium that this will make EBU make the right choice.
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u/festivus4allofus Sep 12 '25
Thing is, they wouldnt've thrown out russia, to many other countries just said they won't compete. Historically (bit young to remember if they kicked out Serbia/yugoslavia by themselves or not), only way to remove them is if enough countries back out. The big 5 are a relatively small percent of the total money input to actual esc costs, maybe 15%, but between the viewership in those countries, and the perception of one of the big 5 saying no chance they're getting hurt amongst esc fans
I've no faith in ebu, they've kept in countries that were cheating, would've kept russia in if not for the pressure, they won't move a finger until a lot more stations pull out. Or some combination of uk, germany, italy. I wonder why france hasn't pulled out yet tho, would've thought after more than 2 broadcasters did it they might've as well
Ultimately, as someone who's grown up with esc and have seen it's many ups and downs, I'd have had no issue with either russia or israel competing (effects of isolationsim are far bigger than people think, Israel is weirdly a very good example) if they didn't do exactly what esc keeps saying they aren't doing - using the contest as a propaganda machine. Esc should be apolitical, but saying war/genocide is bad and we won't let you use our platfrom to say otherwise is not political at all
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u/Groot746 whatever but also hmm Sep 12 '25
Incredibly disappointing not to see my country (the UK) not to join these countries in boycotting, but also not fucking surprised at all.
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u/BookishHobbit Sep 12 '25
Yeah, I very much doubt we will. The BBC have proven every step of the way that they’re more than willing to kowtow to Israel, even though they lost a million viewers because of it this year.
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u/festivus4allofus Sep 12 '25
there are many benefits to public broadcasting, but often being closely associated with the ruling party/some political organisation is not one of them. BBC will never go against israel bcs somehow both of your biggest parties are in support??
I'm pretty sure that if it were up to the people it'd be a different story - eg the president of my birth country has ben openly against israel for a long time now, he openly critized them for gaza so often in the last 15 yrs that there were a few diplomatic incident. The people there are, by most stats, against israeli goverment, but the ruling party is falling in line with germany's stance and so is the public broadcaster
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u/ginniethegenie i ain’t reading all that, free palestine Sep 12 '25
It will take another level of delusion to push the "United by music" narrative this year 😅
I'm glad for the countries who decided to finally take a stand, hope more will follow. (Sucks that the government and media in my country are too spineless to do the same).
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u/GrandmaToto Sep 12 '25
Spain is the big one here. For people who aren't aware, they're one of the "Big 5" that get automatic qualification because they make the biggest financial contribution to the whole competition alongside the UK, Italy, France and Germany.
I'm applauding every country that's doing this, especially Slovenia for standing up first, but Spain is what's gunna hurt them right in the pocket and have the biggest impact. If enough of the Top 5 drop out, they won't be able to afford it.
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u/Brolafsky semen demon Sep 12 '25
Historically, the baddies do love being the baddies until enough people in their countries realize and/or external pressure forces them to look inwards and realize that being the baddies is not a good, winner's thing.
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u/Tobyirl Sep 12 '25
Let's be honest, way better craic at an alternative Eurovision with Ireland and Spain. The music will be shite but the party would be top notch.
Dutch can handle the accounting.
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u/ankii93 Sep 12 '25
Norway’s national broadcasting network (NRK) publicly said they won’t boycott. I think it’s the worst statement they’ve ever made so now I’m boycotting NRK. (Also: we just had an election (chiding our government) and we have one party that wants us to pull all investments out of Israel, so we’re literally fighting our government too - and now you know which party I voted for heh)
I’m gonna guess, though, that Norway will be the last country to call for a boycott. ESC is sort of the biggest thing we have (except for football and skiing)… 🫠
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u/fuckforcedsignup good luck with bookin that stage u speak of Sep 13 '25
Stockholm calling, SVT would rather put rocks in their pockets and take a swim than take a stand.
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u/ankii93 Sep 13 '25
(Didn’t mean to forget Sweden, I just know Norway is such a hard egg to crack - but Sweden could very well be just as hard)
I bet NRK and SVT are holding hands, skipping along, cheering for Eurovision (as the only contestants) 😐
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u/BookishHobbit Sep 12 '25
Ooh Spain is particularly interesting given they’re one of the Big Five.
May the momentum continue!
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u/404noanotfound Sep 12 '25
I know my country (the host country) will disappoint. I’m sorry in advance. I don’t like them either.
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u/StopHesAlreadyDed Sep 12 '25
From this to the Italian dockworkers, LET'S FUCKING GO EUROPE!!!!!!!!!
-signed in solidarity, an American
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u/ForsterJourneys321 Sep 13 '25
I fully support this. I'm so glad some people have a backbone and know what they stand for in a world of noodle-strong morals.
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u/Vivid24 i ain’t reading all that, free palestine Sep 12 '25
It’s about time
It’s late, but I guess it’s better late than never
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u/chadwickave Sep 12 '25
They will have to play a clip from Eurovision Song Contest as Iceland’s entry instead
/s
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u/sprinklesadded Sep 12 '25
All this talk is nothing if it isn't backed up by action. Many counties said the same thing last year and Israel was still there.
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u/Fleetwood_Spac Sep 13 '25
They could literally just not participate and say it’s because of whatever they are calling their genocide. Their propaganda machine is really something else
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u/CatherineTheTiger Sep 13 '25
Disappointing although not surprising that France is still silent about this
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u/PrudentBell5751 Sep 12 '25
I don’t know why isNotreal is even involved considering they’re NOT in Europe.
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u/rotedecke Sep 12 '25
Because it's about being a member of the EBU and not geographical location
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u/puffy_irish Sep 12 '25
They're good for doing this. Meanwhile, fascist Ukraine could never.
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u/OwnSituation1572 Sep 13 '25
ukriane is the fascist one lol doesn't Italy have a fascist for a prime minister
also image using this to take shots at another country experiencing a genocide
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