Nul points

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Israel's decision to restrict its Eurovision entrants to those who served in its armed forces smacks of racism - and must not be condoned

Richard Silverstein
May 23, 2008

have a confession to make. Unlike much of the rest of the world, most Americans have never heard of the Eurovision song contest, which will be held in Belgrade later this week. We're sort of insular that way. We call our baseball championship the World Series when only North American teams compete. We're still catching up with the rest of the world regarding what it calls football and we call soccer.

If I told you I was a big Eurovision fan, I'd be lying. But Eurovision represents an important international competition that captures the attention of hundreds of millions of fans and TV viewers. That's why this story is important.

Israel has competed in the Eurovision contest since 1973. It's safe to say that the country is Eurovision-mad. Three Israeli performers have won the contest and several, most notably Ofra Haza, have not only won but also gone on to have distinguished careers on the strength of their performances. Israel's representative in this year's Eurovision, Boaz Mauda, is a finalist in Saturday night's competition.

Last year, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, which determines who represents Israel, ruled that Israel Defense Forces service was a condition for performer eligibility:

The Israel Broadcasting Authority announced ... it would not hold a contest to decide who should represent Israel in the Eurovision song contest, so as not to give contenders who did not serve in the army with chance to win.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_silverstein/2008/05/nul_points.html

[Violet_Crumble]

1. Okay, now that this year's obligatory belated Eurovision article is out of the way

It's wrong to restrict entry like that, especially if the contest is taken seriously in Israel...

Boaz Mauda was memorable to me for having big biceps, a shiny, shiny sleeveless shirt, not singing in English, and having a really high singing voice. I guess that must have impressed other people as he came in about 10th or 11th. I think he could have come in much higher in the results if he'd donned a pair of angel wings, had a roller-blader going in circles round him, and worn something that made him look like a strawberry...

[LeftishBrit]

2. I strongly agree that this is unfair and should be changed

but in any case you're not going to win the contest these days if you're not from Eastern Europe (says she with feeling!)

And most Eurovision winning songs are pretty rubbishy anyway - even the times the Brits won!

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Yeah, the bloc voting was just a bit obvious.....

It's really not about the music, but about how many next-door neighbours a country has and it looked like if they'd waged war on each other in the past decade or so, then that was an assured 12 points. I did feel sorry for the guy from the UK coz while he was a bit bland, he wasn't so bad that he should have come equal last. Personally I think next year the UK should do what Ireland did and just enter something that takes the piss out of the whole Eurovision thing...

[henank]

4. As usual Richard can't get his facts straight

Ofra Haza did not win. First was Yizhar Cohen, then "Milk & Honey", and finally Dana International.

Secondly Richard's comment "Israel's decision to restrict its Eurovision entrants to those who served in its armed forces smacks of racism - and must not be condoned" shows how ignorant he is of Israeli culture and prevailing norms in Israeli society. There is a very big backlash going on at the moment against draft-dodgers. Many artists and performers are famous for their draft dodging and the public is getting very fed up. For this reason it was decided that not only Eurovision entrants but all public perfomers on Independence Day had to have served in the IDF or National Service. This is nothing to do with racism as Richard well knows but chooses to ignore to make his usual polemical point - there are indeed many Arabs who have served Israel faithfully in the IDF and if they want to get up and sing for Israel, well, good for them. I will be delighted to hear them.

[Shaktimaan]

5. Racism?

Besides excluding Arabs, the IBA ruling turns away several classes of citizens who might be considered. It dismisses, rather churlishly, those who received medical deferments:

But it doesn't exclude Arabs at all. Whether or not a participant is Arab has nothing to do with their eligibility. Doesn't this single sentence (the parts of it that aren't factually incorrect) demonstrate that eligibility does not hinge on race? Some Arabs ARE eligible while some caucasian Jews are not... yet it is racism?

Richard Silverstein adds this response:

"In reply to those who claim that Bedouin & Druse serving in the IDF indicate that Arabs as a whole serve (or can serve) in the army: Bedouin & Druse make up a miniscule percentage of the overall Arab population of Israel. Yes, Israeli Arabs are welcome to serve IN PRINCIPLE. But the fact is that almost none do serve except these 2 groups, which are a small minority of the overall population. Bedouin and Druze are the exception that proves the rule.

Further, Israeli Arabs are affirmatively excluded from the most technically advanced sectors of the IDF (IAF, paratroopers, etc.) because they are viewed as a dangerous fifth column that could damage Israeli security. An Israeli Arab woman was recently accepted as a medic in the IAF & then rejected once they discovered her ethnicity.

In reply to the commenter who disingenuously posted claiming Israeli Arabs included Israeli JEWISH Arabs, I think it was clear to everyone except this poster that I was not referring to Mizrahi Jews (who themselves are discriminated against - though not to the same extent as Arabs)."

- Richard Silverstein

There's so much that's wrong with this statement I thought it would be instructive to post as an example of how some people seem to be driven to accuse Israel of anything, regardless of whether it makes any sense at all or even if it relies on falsehoods. For instance he happily lumps the Druze and Arabs together, despite the fact that Druze are not considered Arab. But then he excludes Mizrahim from the Arab ethnicity, because he "was not referring to them." I can understand why he was ignoring them; their existence renders his "racism" argument absurd. The last Israeli winner of eurovision was actually Arab, born of Yemeite Jews.

It appears then that Richard has no problem with arguing that a racial difference exists between Jewish Yemenites and Muslim Yemenites. Basically, for his assertion of racism to stick we must also subscribe to the belief that merely being Jewish is enough to qualify one as an entirely separate race. The belief that Jews constitute their own race is not only quite offensive but is a rather self-defeating argument if one is trying to demonstrate bigotry or racism in someone else. If even the Druze are thought by Richard to be Arab then how is it that Mizrahim don't make the cut?

The kicker is his final assertion that the Mizrahim are also discriminated against by caucasian Israelis... considering how most Israelis are at least partly of Mizrahi lineage (mixed marriages are actually very common, Rich) I don't see how they are currently being discriminated against. Does it mean that Jews of Arab descent and caucasian Jews are also different races, in addition to Arab Jews and Muslim Arabs? What about Christian Arabs... are they their own separate race as well?

What about me? Am I white, like I always assumed... or is my race actually Judaism? Or am I "mixed-race" because I am both caucasian and Jewish? It's so confusing trying to decide exactly which non-racial traits define one's racial identity, Richard made it look so easy. He must practice a lot.

[LeftishBrit]

6. I don't think racist is the word; but it is IMO discriminatory.

Not only are Arabs not *required* to serve in the Army; but most face a lot of problems within their own communities if they do. Perhaps this shouldn't be the case, but it generally is.

Thus the policy does discriminate against Arabs. For that matter, it also discriminates against very Orthodox Jews who are also exempt from military service. And in any case I don't think that military service is remotely relevant to a song contest! Many Europaean countries that compete, including the UK, do not have any form of universal national service anyway.

With regard to Henank's comment about draft-dodging: I suppose I could understand excluding illegal draft-dodgers, deserters, and other lawbreakers, on the grounds that only law-abiding citizens should be representing one's country internationally - but it seems unfair to exclude groups that are explicitly exempt from military service.

Mind you, the whole Eurovision song contest is a farce anyway. It always was, and nowadays even more so. I would advise the Israelis, Jewish and Arab alike, not even to bother with it!


I do agree with you to an extent about racism. I am always amazed when people see the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in terms of 'white' versus 'brown' people. I have met several Israeli Jews (mostly Mizrahi, but including at least one Ashkenazi) who were considerably 'browner' in appearance than many Arabs whom I've met. However, there is a lot of ethnic prejudice that is not based on race or colour, and yet has a lot in common with racism. E.g. as I've said a few times, the number one form of prejudice in the UK is anti-immigrant bigotry. This is often linked to classical racial prejudice, but not always. For example, there is a great deal of current bigotry against Polish immigrants which is extremely similar in its nature to the also-prevalent bigotry against non-white immigrants and their descendants.

[pelsar]

7. why cant he get his facts straight?

everytime i read his articles, when they come here, i find factual mistakes....not even confusing ones...pure fact:

An Israeli Arab woman was recently accepted as a medic in the IAF & then rejected once they discovered her ethnicity.

how do we call this?...the article in haartez that mentioned she was an arab, that she passed the course, was accepted, and that her acceptance was deemed a mistake, also mentioned that the commander made sure that she stayed. The unit? is one of the most elite, most highly technical, complex units in the air force-its a rescue unit. (just a note: it was the US army the first integrated after WWII, realizing just how stupid and self defeating the segregation was, the IDF may be learning the same lesson)

And thats just one of his mistakes.....

the more amusing one
Eurovision represents an important international competition....perhaps in a more "comical" sort of way.

[oberliner]

8. One of the problems of the blog age

Folks can cobble together bits and pieces of articles posted by others, not do any of their own actual reporting, and publish something in an online newspaper site that appears to have some semblance of credibility.

This is by no means limited to the blogger in the OP, but it is a phenomenon that seems to be growing exponentially.

It seems like true reporting (face-to-face meetings, interviews, confirmation of information reported elsewhere) gets lost amidst general speculating.

It is great that there is so much information available online, but it seems like a lot of misinformation gets passed along as fact - and once it's out there in the blogosphere, it's out there for good.