In advance of the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Tel Aviv in May, the arguments over boycotting the event are being played out in the Irish media.
Writing in the Irish edition of The Sunday Times (paywall), Justine McCarthy makes it quite clear that, while she is no fan of Israel, she opposes a Eurovision boycott by the Irish national broadcaster RTE, referring to a suggestion that:
instead of boycotting the show, the broadcaster should bring back news reports from the occupied territories when it goes to Israel for the contest. Though this is an eminently good suggestion, it would depend on Israel facilitating television crews to enter the territories, as access is heavily restricted and virtually impossible at the Gaza border.
There is a duty on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to extract an undertaking from the host country that Israel will not impede access for visiting broadcasters.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
We wrote directly to Justine McCarthy to inform her of the sheer ignorance behind her claim of Israeli restrictions on foreign press. With our agreement, she passed on our comments which have been published as the lead item in The Sunday Times letters page. Here is the letter in full:
Hitting the wrong note on media freedom for Eurovision
Given that a central part of Justine McCarthy’s piece “Boycott of Eurovision Song Contest won’t score” (Comment, last week) is a suggestion that Irish media should be able to openly report on all sides, it is incredible to state this “would depend on Israel facilitating television crews to enter the territories, as access is heavily restricted and virtually impossible at the Gaza border”.
In fact there is virtually unrestricted access for foreign journalists throughout the disputed territories, particularly in the West Bank. The real restrictions are on Israeli journalists, for their own security and safety. There will be nothing to stop foreign television crews from entering Palestinian towns and cities, with or without official press accreditation.
Likewise, most of the time the Erez Crossing facilitates access to Gaza for foreign journalists, diplomats and NGO workers, on the assumption there is no abnormal security crisis. How do you think there is so much coverage of Israel and the Palestinian territories in the international media? It certainly isn’t due to imagined Israeli restrictions on press freedom.
You may also wish to consider the restrictions on Palestinian journalists who are regularly arrested and intimidated if they don’t follow the Hamas/Palestinian Authority line. Likewise, many foreign journalists based here minimise Palestinian misbehaviour precisely in order not to jeopardise their access.
The suggestion that Israel will deliberately restrict access for foreign journalists during the Eurovision contest is simply wrong.
Simon Plosker, Jerusalem
