Eurovision Divided: Fans Rally Amid Boycotts

It may boast the tagline United by Music, but as the prepares to celebrate its 70th year, the event couldn't be more fractured.

The glitzy music contest will host its live final in Vienna, Austria on Saturday, but divisions over Israel's participation are hanging over the event.

, Ireland, the , Slovenia and Iceland have decided to boycott the competition over Israel's inclusion, with Noam Bettan set to perform in the final after making it through the semi-final on Tuesday.

Already Israel's national broadcaster KAN has received a formal warning from organisers over videos posted online by Noam Bettan, where he urges viewers to 'vote 10 times for Israel.'

The boycotts have also been a financial blow to Eurovision, which is funded largely by participating broadcasters, and to public broadcasters at a time when many are under financial pressure from government funding cuts and competition from social media. 

However, fans are now rallying to stand by the contest, insisting that despite the controversy they're ready to celebrate the contest's seven-decades on screens.

Dean Vuletic, author of the book Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest, told the BBC: 'When it comes to merchandising, when it comes to ticket sales, the fans are really the ones fuelling this Eurovision industry. 

'They're the ones you can count on to attend the contest, even when it becomes mired in political controversy.'

This is far from the first time Eurovision has faced controversy, but he added that the 'fans keep coming, no matter what.'

However, some fans have decided to axe their coverage of the contest, with much of the show's online conversation stemming from forums, podcasts and blogs.

Ireland's Eirevision podcast said: 'We no longer recognise the Eurovision Song Contest we grew up with. A contest founded on unity, peace, and connection has never felt more divided.'

Director Martin Green has, unsurprisingly, defended the contest, noting that tickets for the grand final sold out in a record 14 minutes.

He said: 'To see every single show sell out so quickly is a powerful reminder of what the Eurovision Song Contest represents - joy, togetherness and shared experience at a time when that feels more important than ever.'

Israel's act Noam Bettan reached the grand final after being booed by pro-Palestine supporters during his performance, with Austria's broadcaster ORF confirming in a statement several members of the audience were removed by security.

Bettan faced a mixed reception during the semi-final as a few audience members booed and shouted anti-Israeli slogans, while others chanted his name in support.

The negative reaction to Bettan's performance was audible on the TV broadcast, after Austrian broadcaster ORF, which is hosting the show, said it would not censor protests or negative reactions to any of the contestants.

In a statement after the show, ORF and Eurovision organisers the EBU said the audience member had been 'close to a microphone' and 'loudly expressed their views' - both as Israel prepared to take the stage and during their song.

'They were later removed by security for continuing to disturb the audience. Three other people were also removed from the arena by security for disruptive behaviour,' said the statement. 

Despite this, Israel are currently the fourth favourite to win with Coral giving them odds of 11/1 - tied with Denmark. 

The hot favourites are Finland with odds of 5/6, followed by Australia with 7/2 and Greece with 13/2.  

Long a forum for good-natured and sometimes more pointed national rivalries, Eurovision has found it hard to separate pop and politics in recent years.

Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tensions rose again after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people, and Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza that has left more than 70,000 people dead.

The last two Eurovision contests have seen pro-Palestinian protests both outside the venues and inside, forcing organisers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

Several performers and countries have called for the exclusion of Israel, which has competed in Eurovision since 1973, one of a few non-European countries to do so.

The 2024 contest in Malmo, Sweden, and last year's event in Basel, Switzerland, saw pro-Palestinian protests that called for Israel to be expelled over the conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza and allegations it ran a rule-breaking marketing campaign to get votes for its contestant after Israel finished second last year.

When organisers declined to kick Israel out, five countries announced in December that they would not participate this year.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, has toughened voting rules in response to the vote-rigging allegations, halving the number of votes per person to 10 and tightening safeguards against 'suspicious or coordinated voting activity'.

Israel last year got 83 per cent of its points from the public for its song New Day Will Rise and came ​second overall.

The winner, Austria's Wasted Love, got just 41 per cent of its votes from the public, and had to rely on ⁠the support of national juries to power its way to the top.

Posts and photos from the Israel X account run by Israel's foreign ministry and ​dated on the day that Israel competed in last year's semi-final had encouraged people to vote for its singer Yuval Raphael, adding that 'you can vote up ​to 20 times'. 

'We saw some activity last year which we could describe as disproportionate marketing and promotional activity that we felt was out of sync with the nature of the show, so we put some rules in about that,' Eurovision Song Contest Director Martin Green told Reuters, without referring directly to the posts.

Several pro-Palestinian demonstrations are planned in Vienna during Eurovision week, and security is tight, with police officers from across Austria deployed in the capital and support from forces in neighbouring Germany.