00:00At least four countries have announced they are pulling out of next year's Eurovision Song Contest
00:07after organizers decided to allow Israel to compete.
00:11The participating broadcasters from the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia
00:15each withdrew from the Song Contest after the European Broadcasting Union
00:19held its twice-yearly General Assembly.
00:23The countries called for Israel to be excluded over alleged interference in voting
00:27and its conduct in the war on Gaza.
00:30Well, what I'm pleased is the membership have had a full opportunity to debate it
00:34and I can tell you it was a full, frank, honest and quite moving debate.
00:39But as we can see from the emphatic result,
00:42what they really came together on is a belief that Eurovision Song Contest
00:46shouldn't be used as a political theatre.
00:49It must retain some sense of neutrality.
00:52The EBU voted to adopt tougher voting rules in response to the allegations
00:56that Israel manipulated the vote in favor of their contestant.
01:00The contest of musical acts from dozens of countries strives to remain apolitical
01:05but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events.
01:08Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
01:13Over the past two years, pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated against Israel
01:18outside the Eurovision contest venues in Switzerland and in Sweden.
01:22Thank you very much for each other.
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