Israel’s Eurovision influence campaign began years earlier, research finds

Israel’s latest Eurovision controversy did not begin with Yuval Raphael’s runner-up finish. It grew out of a much longer campaign in which the contest has served as a stage for national image-making, political visibility and soft power, stretching back to Israel’s first appearance in 1973.

Israel was the first non-European country admitted through European Broadcasting Union membership, and it has won Eurovision four times, in 1978, 1979, 1998 and 2018. Those victories turned the contest into more than entertainment. They brought Eurovision to Jerusalem in 1979 and 1999, then to Tel Aviv in 2019, tying the event repeatedly to Israel’s diplomatic branding and international profile. Scholars have described the competition as an arena where countries shape how they are seen and brand their nations, and Israel’s participation has long been especially charged because it sits outside Europe geographically while using a European cultural institution to navigate its place in the continent’s public sphere.

That backdrop mattered in 2025, when the contest became a political flashpoint across Europe. On April 12, 2025, the European Broadcasting Union said all EBU members are eligible to compete, after Spain’s RTVE formally asked for a debate on Israel’s participation. Concerns soon widened beyond the eligibility question. Broadcasters including Belgium’s VRT and Spain’s RTVE raised alarms about transparency, legitimacy and the perceived integrity of the voting system, while broadcasters in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Iceland and Finland also pressed for scrutiny.

The sharpest concern came after Eurovision News Spotlight reported on May 19, 2025, that an Israeli government agency had paid for adverts aimed at the Eurovision public vote. Martin Green, the contest director, said Eurovision would look at how acts were promoted by delegations and associated parties so audience voting would not be disproportionately affected. The issue was intensified by the result itself: Yuval Raphael finished second overall after winning the public vote but ranking much lower with juries.

For Israel, the dispute underscored how Eurovision has become part of a long-term state influence strategy. The contest has offered repeated opportunities to project national identity, absorb European attention and shape perceptions far beyond the stage, making a pop competition into a recurring instrument of geopolitics.