Government social media accounts and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a campaign to encourage people to vote for Israel’s entrant.
Just minutes before Yuval Raphael went onstage to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest final last weekend, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, posted an appeal to his 1.5 million Instagram followers.
“Vote #04 — New Day Will Rise” the prime minister’s post urged followers. “Vote 20 Times!” it added, a nod to the maximum number that viewers are allowed to cast under the contest’s rules.
On a day when Israel’s military began mobilizing to advance farther into Gaza, and Israeli and Hamas negotiators were engaged in cease-fire talks, it was perhaps surprising that Netanyahu was weighing in on a spectacular, high-camp pop contest.
Yet at a time when Israeli singers and artists are often shunned on the world’s stages over their country’s actions in Gaza, Eurovision appears to have grown in importance for Israel’s government.
Eurovision fans vote for a variety of reasons, but Netanyahu’s direct plea was part of a wider effort by the government and pro-Israel groups to generate support for the Israeli contestant, via social media posts, email campaigns and YouTube ads.
Israel secured the largest public vote at the final in Basel, Switzerland, which led to a nail-biting end to the show. Israel seemed poised to win right until the last minute of the vote count, when Austria, which had performed better in points from expert juries, leaped ahead.
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Source: Music - nytimes.com
