The Israeli public broadcaster has released a statement outlining that changes are being made to its songs that were previously rejected by the EBU.

On social media, the Israeli broadcaster KAN has released a statement outlining its current position regarding participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The statement outlines that KAN has opted to work with the songwriters behind “October Rain” and “Dance Forever” to revise the songs to meet the rules of the contest. KAN had previously stated that if the European Broadcasting Unionrejected its submitted song they would not make changes.

The statement reads:

“The Israel Broadcasting Corporation has been working in recent weeks to take the necessary steps to allow Israel to participate in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Despite disagreeing with the position of the EBU, which sought to disqualify the two songs submitted by Israel to the Contest on the grounds that they “carry a political character”, KAN adopted the advice of the country’s president, Yitzhak Herzog, who turned to the our Board of Directors and asked to make the necessary adjustments, which would allow Israel to compete on the Eurovision stage.

The President of the country emphasized that precisely at a time when our haters seek to push and boycott the State of Israel from every platform – Israel must raise its voice and hold head high and raise its flag in every world forum, especially this year.

KAN contacted the creators of the two selected songs, “October Rain” which was chosen in first place and the song “Dance Forever” which came in second place, and asked to readjust the lyrics, whilst preserving full artistic freedom. Based on the new lyrics – KAN will choose the song that will be sent to the Eurovision supervising committee, so that they will approve Israel’s participation in the Contest.

On Sunday, March 10, at 9:30 p.m., KAN 11 will broadcast a special broadcast in which the song that will be sent to Eurovision will be revealed and will be performed by Eden Golan.”

It is important to note that the EBU will be required to assess the song alongside all other competing songs submitted for Eurovision 2024 by the deadline of March 11. The EBU may reject the song if it is still found to be in breach of the rules of the contest.

Since the war in Gaza began on October 7, the country’s participation in Eurovision has been a controversial topic. Many artists, musicians and fans across Europe have called for Israel to be excluded from the competition because of their involvement in military action.

Israel’s national final, HaKokhav HaBa, which is broadcast by Keshet 12 but used as a Eurovision selection in collaboration with KAN, featured judges and contestants wearing military uniform and overt promotion of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

This led some Eurovision media organisations, including Eurovoix, to substantially restrict their coverage of Israel within Eurovision.

Some of this year’s Eurovision artists, including Windows95Man from Finland and Denmark’s SABA, have also said they considered whether competing in Eurovision was the right thing to do if Israel were still involved.

As it stands, though, no broadcaster or artist has decided to boycott this year’s Eurovision over Israel’s involvement. Iceland, however, have said they will make a final decision on Eurovision participation with the winner of their national final Söngvakeppnin 2024 due to Israel’s involvement.

Eurovoix is currently restricting its coverage of the Israeli selection and participation at the Eurovision Song Contest. For more information on how our coverage is being affected, please read the following statement.

Image Source: Keshet/Shay Franco | Source:KAN