Germany threatened to withdraw from Eurovision if Israel banned, Turkish media reports

The report was based on a single German journalist, Dr. Martin Gak, who has a reputation for strong anti-Israel bias.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Turkish news outlet Cumhuriyet reported that German public broadcaster ARD adamantly opposed a ban on Israel participating in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest and even threatened that Germany would pull out of the competition if Israel were barred.

The report was based on a single German journalist, Dr. Martin Gak, who has a reputation for strong anti-Israel bias.

He said, “Germany is a powerful European Broadcasting Union (EBU) member. When various broadcasters demanded Israel’s expulsion, the Germans stated they would pull out if Israel’s participation were suspended.”

Gak added, “If you look at the German government’s relationship with Israel, this claim becomes highly credible.”

He noted the EBU’s support of barring Russia from competing following the nation’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine because it would “damage the competition’s reputation.”

“Two years later, in 2024,” Gak continued, “Israel is devastating Gaza, killing thousands of civilians, including journalists, children, and women, and destroying civilian infrastructure, cultural institutions, and universities. Yet Israel was not excluded.”

He also alleged that Israel was involved in the disqualification of popular Dutch contestant  Joost Klein in 2024.

Klein was barred from competing because of allegations that he bullied and harassed female crew members backstage. However, Gak claimed that his comments to the Israeli contestant in 2024, Edan Golan, were the real reason for barring him.

“Klein, sitting next to the Israeli contestant at a press conference, openly opposed Israel’s participation,” and the result was “a smear campaign was launched against Klein for criticizing Israel’s participation.” Gak claimed.

Following the results of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, which saw Israel’s Yuval Raphael placing second behind Austria after winning first in the televote, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for Israel to be banned from future Eurovision contests and other global cultural events.

Israel secured the maximum number of votes from Spanish viewers — 12 — despite Sanchez’s belief that the Jewish state should have been barred from the competition.

Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli ridiculed Sánchez in a social media post that described Raphael’s popularity among Spanish viewers as a “slap in the face” for Sánchez, “which we have heard here in Jerusalem.”