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Even before this week\u2019s uproar, Israel\u2019s participation in this year\u2019s Eurovision, which will be held in Malmo, Sweden, had cast a shadow over the event. As the death toll from Israel\u2019s military offensive in Gaza has mounted, hundreds of musicians<\/a> in countries including Sweden, Denmark and Iceland have signed petitions urging the European Broadcasting Union to ban Israel, following a similar decision in 2022 to ban Russia after it invaded Ukraine.<\/p>\n The European Broadcasting Union has repeatedly dismissed the comparison between Israel and Russia. \u201cWe understand the concerns and deeply held views around the current conflict in the Middle East,\u201d the union said in a statement this month, but Eurovision was \u201cnot a contest between governments.\u201d<\/p>\n At this year\u2019s Eurovision, Israel will be represented by Eden Golan, a 20-year-old pop singer who was selected earlier this month when she won a TV talent show called \u201cRising Star,\u201d singing an Aerosmith cover. During that show\u2019s final, Golan referred to the roughly 130 hostages Israel believes Hamas is holding in Gaza. \u201cWe won\u2019t truly be OK until everyone returns home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Which song Golan will sing at Eurovision, however, is not only up to her. Kan has been evaluating potential tracks, and although it submitted \u201cOctober Rain\u201d for approval, the broadcaster is not scheduled to officially announce Israel\u2019s song until March 10, allowing time for it to be changed, if necessary.<\/p>\n Throughout Eurovision\u2019s history, the European Broadcasting Union has occasionally intervened when it detected political overtones in proposed entries, said Chris West, the author of a history of Eurovision. In 2009, he said, Georgia pulled out of the contest<\/a> because the organizers objected to a song called \u201cWe Don\u2019t Wanna Put In<\/a>.\u201d The song was seen as a statement against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, West said.<\/p>\n And in 2015, Armenia changed the title of its entry \u201cDon\u2019t Deny,\u201d because it was widely interpreted as a reference to Turkey\u2019s denial of the Ottoman Empire\u2019s genocide of Armenians<\/a>. The song was renamed \u201cFace the Shadow,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n