Dan’s note: I’ve never followed Eurovision before and I don’t condone or recommend participating in such contests especially with contests taking place on Shabbos among other problems, but with the politics surrounding this year’s contest and how the votes turned out, I felt compelled to write my take on it.
The Eurovision song contest is one of the most popular competitions in the world. The annual competition draws hundreds of millions of viewers and dominates local headlines.
Many countries tried to have Israel banned this year, but the organizer refused to do so, insisting that it remain non-political.
That would prove to be quite the challenge.
Israel’s representative for 2024, Eden Golan, was originally going to sing “October Rain,” referencing the October 7th attack on Israel. That song title and lyrics, which can be found here, were deemed to be too political. Apparently, the world isn’t ready to hear “promise me that never again.” or “I’m still wet from this October Rain.”
Eden faced an unprecedented amount of hate. Perhaps that’s not a surprise, given that Sweden decided to host the contest in Malmo?
Tens of thousands of protestors meant that Eden needed security tighter than most heads of state:
Protestors shouted at Eden in front of her hotel:
Protestors had the usual anti-Semitic chants, glorifying the mastermind of the 10/7 rapes, beheadings, and kidnapping, and telling Jews to go back to Poland’s concentration camps.
Ouch indeed!
Other contestants made petty protests against Eden.
And some apologized for interacting with her:
Victim blaming Israel has been popular throughout this war that was started by Hamas, so I guess there’s no surprise that Eden is victim blamed for showing up?
But Chabad was there to have her back. (Disclaimer: Tsnius)
As was the Prime Minister:
You can view the studio version of Eden’s song here. (Disclaimer: Tsnius, Kol Isha, Sefira)
You can also listen to covers of the song without Kol Isha by Pirchei Yerushalayim Choir and with the October Rain lyrics. (Disclaimer: Sefira)
The crowds booed from the rehearsal to the end, though the boos were filtered out in the broadcast version of her semifinal performance and final performance. (Disclaimer: Tsnius, Kol Isha, Sefira)
But it was the voting that really caught my eye.
Millions of viewers from 14 countries and the rest of the world outside of Europe gave Israel a 1st place finish. That’s a whopping 15 first place finishes out of 36 participating countries and the rest of the world.
That’s actually really impressive given the climate that we’re in these days!
The stakes are high. Aside from bragging rights, the winning country also hosts next year’s contest.
But while Eden won the 2nd semi-final which is only based on viewer votes, for the final the viewer votes are only half of the total points. The other half of the points are from juries of 5 people from each country. The jury members can’t discuss the performances, they each vote on their own.
Before you say I’m paranoid about the results, just take a look at this juror (who clearly knows nothing about the history of Israel), who notes that despite being told to leave politics at home, he opted to intentionally exclude Israel from his votes.
So is there any surprise that no juries awarded Israel with a 1st place finish?
Or that no juries awarded Israel with a 2nd place finish?
Israel finished in 1st place from viewers in Australia, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, but juries from those 12 countries didn’t even give Israel a spot in the top 10. They didn’t give Israel a single point!
Talk about leaving their politics at home.
Only 3 of the countries where voters gave Israel a 1st place finish had juries that voted for Israel at all, Belgium’s jury gave Israel 6th place, France gave Israel 8th place, and Germany gave Israel 3rd place.
Then again, last year’s Swedish winner said she wouldn’t hand the trophy over to Eden if she won.
While Eden earned 323 points from the viewers vote, good for 2nd place, she only earned 52 points from the juror vote, which was good for 12th place for the juror vote, and dropped her to 5th place overall.
Below is a chart that I compiled to illustrate all of this:
| Country voting for Israel | Popular viewer vote for Israel | Juries vote for Israel | Point differential |
| Albania | 2nd place (10 points) | 0 points | -10 |
| Armenia | 10th place (1 point) | 0 points | -1 |
| Australia | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Austria | 2nd place (10 points) | 0 points | -10 |
| Azerbaijan | 4th place (7 points) | 0 points | -7 |
| Belgium | 1st place (12 points) | 6th place (5 points) | -7 |
| Croatia | 0 points | 0 points | 0 |
| Cyprus | 2nd place (10 points) | 3rd place (8 points) | -2 |
| Czechia | 2nd place (10 points) | 0 points | -10 |
| Denmark | 3rd place (8 points) | 0 points | -8 |
| Estonia | 5th place (6 points) | 6th place (5 points) | -1 |
| Finland | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| France | 1st place (12 points) | 8th place (3 points) | -9 |
| Georgia | 3rd place (8 points) | 8th place (3 points) | -5 |
| Germany | 1st place (12 points) | 3rd place (8 points) | -4 |
| Greece | 4th place (7 points) | 0 points | -7 |
| Iceland | 3rd place (8 points) | 0 points | -8 |
| Ireland | 2nd place (10 points) | 0 points | -10 |
| Italy | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Latvia | 4th place (7 points) | 9th place (2 points) | -5 |
| Lithuania | 8th place (3 points) | 7th place (4 points) | +1 |
| Luxembourg | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Malta | 6th place (5 points) | 8th place (3 points) | -2 |
| Moldova | 2nd place (10 points) | 8th place (3 points) | -7 |
| Netherlands | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Norway | 6th place (5 points) | 3rd place (8 points) | +3 |
| Poland | 6th place (5 points) | 0 points | -5 |
| Portugal | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| San Marino | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Serbia | 8th place (3 points) | 0 points | -3 |
| Slovenia | 2nd place (10 points) | 0 points | -10 |
| Spain | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Sweden | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Switzerland | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Ukraine | 0 points | 0 points | 0 |
| United Kingdom | 1st place (12 points) | 0 points | -12 |
| Rest of World | 1st place (12 points) | - | - |
| Total points | 323 | 52 | -271 |
Is anyone surprised?
The 2024 gap (323 points from the public and just 52 points from juries) was unprecedented:
- In 2023, Israel had 185 points from the public and 177 from juries.
- In 2021, Israel had 20 points from the public and 70 from juries.
- In 2018, Israel had 317 points from the public and 212 from juries, and took 1st place.
- In 2017, Israel had 5 points from the public and 34 from juries.
- In 2016, Israel had 11 points from the public and 124 from juries.
But in the end, in the face of incredible adversity, Eden Golan stood as a proud Jew, not a Jew with trembling knees, but one ready to take on the world, even if the world is blinded by hate and lies.
So what do you think? Coincidence that no jurors gave Israel a high place finish or did Israel never have a chance this year?
