Is BDS To Blame For Israel’s Poor Showing In Eurovision Contest?

Imri Ziv in the 2017 Eurovision contest in Ukraine Image by Getty Images
Israeli director Yoav Tzafir is blaming Israel’s poor showing in the 2017 Eurovision contest finals on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
Israeli pop singer Imri Ziv came in 23rd out of 26th place in the competition in Ukraine with his song “I Feel Alive.” The song’s music video was co-directed by Tzafir and Elad Weissman.
“There is no doubt that BDS worked very hard in Europe,” Tzafir Israel’s Army Radio in an interview on Sunday, saying that Israel critics had tried to influence the contest.
Ahead of Eurovision, a group of boycotters had set up a Facebook page urging the judges to give “zero points to the song of Israeli apartheid.” With more than 350 “likes,” the group called Ziv’s entry into Eurovision a “mask covering up a loathsome ugliness” of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.
While Israel did poorly in Eurovision, Belgian entrant Blanche, who won fourth place, was hailed by Israeli fans as a member of the Hashomer Hazair Zionist youth group.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected] or on Twitter @naomizeveloff
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.