Israel’s participation in Eurovision is ‘very complicated’, says RTE boss

RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst has said the issue of Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is very complicated.

Mr Bakhurst has written to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ask for a “discussion” on Israel’s inclusion in the contest in May.

Speaking on his way into Leinster House – for a meeting with the chairman of the media committee, Alan Kelly – Mr Bakhurst said RTE would not pull the Irish entry out of Eurovision and did not want to “undermine” Israel’s public service broadcaster.

“It’s just to have conversation, but it’s very complicated, and the position of the Israeli public service broadcaster – who is, in the end, who enters this competition – is pretty precarious and they’re under a lot of pressure from the Israeli government, and I don’t want to undermine the Israeli public service broadcaster.”

He said: “It is very complicated issue, and I’m very well aware that a number of members would not be in favour of excluding Israel. That’s not the point.

“It needs to be raised in my view as a point of discussion.”

He said he has had “a number of discussions over the last couple of years about it” but another conversation was needed “given the level of public concern”.

He said he had spoken to director general of the EBU Noel Curran about the issue, who is a former director general of RTE.

“We just had a general discussion about my concerns and the fact that I would be writing to him.”

Asked if RTE would pull its Irish entry – the song Laika Party performed by singer Emmy – out of the competition, he said: “No, absolutely, (we) won’t pull out of it.”

Eurovision, which is hosted by the EBU, will begin on May 13 in Switzerland with the final on May 17.

Israel is set to be represented at the contest by Yuval Raphael, 24, a survivor of the October 7 2023 Hamas attack.

Mr Bakhurst said he was mindful of RTE’s role as an impartial public news service, but said he was “appalled” by ongoing events in the Middle East.

The development came after members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at RTE called on the broadcaster to follow the lead of some other European public service stations by formally opposing Israel’s participation.

Previously, the EBU has said it appreciated there are concerns about the “current conflict in the Middle East” and remains “in constant contact with those participating this year”.

Labour TD Alan Kelly said he did not think Israel should be allowed to compete in Eurovision this year, but it was “very difficult” for Ireland to withdraw.

He said: “I think it’s very difficult to withdraw as well, to be fair.

“I believe that all cultural events internationally, indeed all sports events internationally, we need to treat Israel in the way in which they deserve to be treated.

“They can’t be accepted as participating and being part of the norm, because the way in which they are behaving, obviously as far as I’m concerned, is absolutely disgraceful.

“There was one rule in relation to how they treated Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and I think Israel should be treated the same in relation to the Eurovision.

“I think the decision of Mr Bakhurst in relation to this was the right one, if maybe it’s obviously all coming a little bit late, given the proximity to the event.”