The purpose of the meeting was to discuss complications that arose surrounding the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation’s eligibility to be a member in the European Broadcasting Union should the Corporation undergo a planned split in which the news broadcasting division be separated from that of the content based programming. Should the split move forward as planned, the IPBC may no longer fit the definition of a public broadcasting organization, and would not be eligible for membership in the EBU, and therefore, be barred from hosting, or even participating in the Eurovision song competition.
In order to avoid such a fiasco, efforts are being employed to find ways to alter, or at least postpone the 2017 decision to split the IPBC, in a manner which would allow the Eurovision to take place in Israel as planned.
“There are open legal issues regarding the Eurovision, stemming from matters of pending legislation that are yet before the courts,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. “The Prime Minister instructed that the legal aspects of the matter be examined with the relevant officials before any decision is made,” the statement added.
Should the government’s 2017 decision to split the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation into two separate entities, one focusing on content and the other providing news services, be carried out, the IPBC may no longer be eligible for membership in the EBU, thus ousting Israel from the song competition.
“We are not aware of any public service media organization that operates the news in a totally separate entity with a separate governance,” EBU Director General Noel Curran explained in a letter sent to IPBC Chairman Gil Omer on Thursday, “In the event that the Supreme Court were to uphold Amendment 8 to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Law (2014), thereby placing news in a separate entity and depriving IPBC of editorial control, the EBU may have reservations about memberships on that basis and a new membership application will be required and subject to a thorough reexamination by all the EBU governing bodies to ensure IPBC would be capable of adhering to PSM’s core values,” he added.
Aside from the technical issues with the IPBC’s eligibility for membership in the EBU, the Eurovision board has also expressed concerns that Israeli politicians are using the song contest for their own political gain. Last week, it was reported that the EBU has informed the IPBC, that while it has no immediate objection to the competition being held in Jerusalem, attempts by Israeli politicians to turn hosting the competition into a political statement are creating difficulties.
“We have no issue with Jerusalem [hosting the competition], as long as it holds up to the professional requirements. We’ve broadcasted from there in the past, and as far as we are concerned, we can do it again,” the EBU was reported to have told the IPBC, adding that “your politicians are creating a problem for us, as they are emphasizing that fact and are turning it into a political matter, they’re sending us letters with demands, and by doing so, are drawing pressure to us from various organizations that do not want us to broadcast from Jerusalem. Israel’s ministers must stay away from the event.”