The winner of the 2025 Eurovision Contest is against the war in Gaza and the war that Israel joins in the global music competition. JJ, who won the game on May 17, said in an interview on Thursday (May 22) that he hopes to see Israel be banned in next year’s game.
“It’s a disappointment to see Israel still playing in the competition,” the singer told the Spanish publication. El Paisaccording to Reuters. “I hope the next European TV network will be held in Vienna and without Israel.”
Billboard Comments have been made with Eurovision Song.
The Global Songwriting Contest regards itself as a “non-political event”, and its rules state that broadcasters expected to participate will take any necessary steps to ensure that their delegations and teams “preserve the interests and integrity of the ESC and ensure that the ESC will not be politicized under any circumstances and/or or otherwise integrated into any manner.
JJ (a classically trained inversionist) won this year’s event with his song “Wasted Love” combined with Techno. The artist-born Johannes Pietsch is Austria’s first winner since 2014 Drag Queen Conchita Wurst.
Israel’s Yuval Raphael won second place, and Israel’s Yuval Raphael won second with her national anthem of “New Day to Rise” and won the audience’s vote in the finale. (They put JJ in the first place when considering the number of votes of the jury.) Although Raphael received a lot of public support in the form of the vote, she faced pro-Palestinian protests demanding Israeli competition for the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Associated Press. The current war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked several Israeli sites, including the Nova Music Festival near Gaza, which Raphael survived – killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Since then, the Israeli government’s military campaign has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Raphael entered its second time, with some countries including Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Iceland challenging the vote, some of whom demanded an audit, the BBC reported on Wednesday (May 21). The organizers have since said the vote was independently verified.
In his El Pais According to Reuters, JJ also said the voting system needs to be changed to better improve transparency.
“It is important to emphasize that the voting action at the ESC Song Contest is the most advanced in the world, with results in each country being examined and verified by a group of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns,” said Martin Green, director of ESC. “The independent compliance monitor reviews jury and public voting data to ensure we achieve effective results. …Our voting partners have confirmed that valid voting has been recorded in all countries participating in this year’s finals and in other parts of the world.”
The 2026 European TV Song Contest is scheduled to be held in Vienna, Austria.
Follow Me