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MembersWhat Eurovision voting really reveals about Europe

Eurovision reveals a simple truth: numbers speak clearly; governments and media often do not.

Noam Bettan from Israel reacts in the Green Room to the result of the public vote during the final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Vienna, Austria, on May 17, 2026. Photo: EPA/Hannibal Hanschke
Noam Bettan from Israel reacts in the Green Room to the result of the public vote during the final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Vienna, Austria, on May 17, 2026. Photo: EPA/Hannibal Hanschke

Do you know that oppressive feeling, as if the whole world were turning against us? You turn on the news, open social media, and everywhere you are met with hatred, accusations, and hostility. We see the massive protests in London, Paris, and Berlin. We hear the loud calls for boycotts. And in the end, we start to believe it ourselves: everyone hates us. Everyone is against Israel.

And feelings are difficult to argue with. What you feel is what you feel. Sometimes I get the impression that we in this country have developed a deep tendency to see ourselves permanently as victims — not me personally, but many people around me. Sephardic Jews, for example many Moroccans, still feel disadvantaged to this day. Parts of the Yemenite community feel the same. Ultra-Orthodox Jews feel misunderstood by the secular state, while left-wing Israelis believe they have been politically and socially pushed aside under decades of right-wing dominance.

And above all of this, many also carry the feeling of being hated by the entire world. Perhaps it is precisely this mixture of historical...

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