The winners of the 2025 European TV Network competition are the war against the Gaza War and the war between Israel participating 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 banned in next year’s game.
“It’s a disappointment to see Israel still playing in the game,” the singer told the Spanish publication. El PaisAccording to Reuters. “I hope the next European television network will be held in Vienna and without Israel.”
Billboard Eurovision songs have been commented on.
The Global Songwriting Contest considers itself 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 under no circumstances will the ESC be politicized under no circumstances.
JJ (a classically trained reversalist) won this year’s event with his song “Wasted Love”. Artist-born Johannes Pietsch is Austria’s first champion since the 2014 Drag Queen Conchita Wurst.
Israel’s Yuval Raphael won second place, Israel’s Yuval Raphael won second place with the national anthem of “A New Day Rise” and won the audience’s vote in the finale. (They first considered the number of votes on the jury.) Although Raphael received a lot of public support in the form of a vote, she faced pro-Palestinian protests demanding Israel compete for the Israel-Hamas war. The current war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked several Israeli websites, including the Nova Music Festival near Gaza, 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.
The BBC reported on Wednesday (May 21) that Raphael entered the second time, with some of the countries (including Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Iceland) raising challenges, some of whom asked for review. 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 actions for the ESC Song Contest are the most advanced in the world, and the result is that each country is reviewed and verified by a group of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns,” said Martin Green, director of ESC. “The independent compliance monitoring review 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 the rest of the world.”
The 2026 European TV Song Contest is scheduled to be held in Vienna, Austria.
