Eurovision is back, this time without Ireland. When is it on and where is it being shown?<\/p>\n
The 70th annual Eurovision Song Contest<\/a> will be broadcast live from Vienna, Austria, this week, with semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday nights followed by Saturday\u2019s grand final, all from 8pm.<\/p>\n The three shows will be aired on BBC One, but RT\u00c9<\/a> is not showing the event, as it is one of five broadcasters boycotting this year\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n Who is boycotting and why?<\/p>\n Broadcasters from Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland announced last December that they would not participate in this year\u2019s contest after members of the European Broadcasting Union<\/a> (EBU) \u2013 the alliance of public service broadcasters behind the event \u2013 opted not to call a vote on whether Israel<\/a> should take part, clearing the way for it to do so.<\/p>\n RT\u00c9 said it felt Ireland\u2019s participation \u201cremains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk\u201d. It also said it was deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and Israel\u2019s barring of international journalists from the territory.<\/p>\n The Spanish, Dutch, Slovenian and Icelandic broadcasters cited similar reasons, while some Eurovision fan groups have also decided not to attend, watch or celebrate this year\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t Eurovision meant to be a non-political event?<\/p>\n The EBU has regularly cited \u201cthe non-political nature\u201d of Eurovision. For instance, it rejected a request by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address the audience during the 2023 grand final.<\/p>\n In practice, political tensions have regularly surfaced throughout the contest\u2019s 70-year history, while one of the \u201cbig five\u201d funders of Eurovision, Spanish broadcaster RTVE, has explicitly taken issue with the claim to be apolitical.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are all aware that the contest carries significant political implications. The Israeli government is equally aware of this fact and leverages the event on the international stage,\u201d RTVE president Jos\u00e9 Pablo L\u00f3pez said last year.<\/p>\n Why is Israel allowed to participate when Russia was barred in 2022?<\/p>\n The short answer is that Israel has more supporters among EBU members than Russia. Although five EBU members decided to boycott this year, others \u2013 including the Austrian host broadcaster, ORF \u2013 were supportive of Israel\u2019s continued involvement. Germany suggested it would boycott if Israel was prevented from taking part.<\/p>\n There was no such disunity in 2022, when \u2013 after initially saying it would not do so \u2013 the EBU responded to pressure from its members and barred Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, saying a Russian entry \u201cwould bring the competition into disrepute\u201d.<\/p>\n