Former Israeli ambassador, Yossef Levy, has posted a strongly-worded message on Facebook, castigating some European juries, including in Lithuania, for not awarding any points to Israel’s entry at the Eurovision Song Contest. The post has elicited indignation from Lithuanian politicians.
Lithuania’s national jury gave no points to Israel’s contestant, Yuval Raphael, during Saturday’s Eurovision final. Raphael ultimately finished second in the competition, thanks to a strong televote score.
On Sunday, Levy published a long post on Facebook, scolding European juries for not giving high scores for Raphael’s performance. He also singled out the Lithuanian jury, claiming it had a “Soviet” mindset.
Levy called jury members in Lithuania, Poland and Serbia – all of whom gave Israel no points – “disgusting cowards and hypocrites”, saying they should be ashamed.
“You gave zero points to a song loved by millions at home. You are not judges: you are political commissars glorifying the Soviet Politburo of thought,” Levy wrote.
“It is so upsetting and painful!” he added.
The post was later deleted from Levy’s profile.
In response, the Israeli embassy to Lithuania said on Sunday that the former ambassador’s comments do not reflect Israel’s official stance.
“We strongly oppose any attempt to politicise this contest, from any direction. I deeply appreciate the overwhelming support shown by music lovers across Europe (and the world), including Lithuania, for Israel’s representative to Eurovision, the talented singer Yuval Raphael, and her inspiring song New Day Will Rise,” Israeli Ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein said in a Facebook statement.
“Any other posts about the topic are personal and do not represent the official position of the state of Israel in any way,” she added.
Levy served as Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania from 2019 to 2022.
Lithuanian viewers awarded three points to Raphael, who performed the song New Day Will Rise on Saturday.
Responses from Lithuanian politicians
Levy’s post elicited responses from Lithuania’s politicians.
“Since when does Israel give instructions to the independent state of Lithuania on how Lithuanian citizens should vote in Eurovision, what they should say and how they should express themselves, so that Israel is satisfied?” Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the ruling Nemunas Dawn party, posted on Facebook.
According to the MP, Levy’s comments mark “just the beginning of the growing global hatred toward Israel’s government” which “are carrying out criminal military actions in Gaza that fit the definition of a Holocaust-genocide”.
Žemaitaitis has previously been found by the Constitutional Court to have broken his oath as an MP over anti-Semitic comments. He is currently on trial for the same comments.
Tomas Vytautas Raskevicius, leader of the non-parliamentary Freedom Party, called the former diplomat’s comment “direct proof that Israel sees Eurovision not as a song contest, but as a tool for political brainwashing”.
“That’s exactly what the ruSSians used to do, sending songs about world peace. The Europeans kicked them out of Eurovision without blinking,” Raskevičius, who chaired the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights during the previous term, posted on Facebook.
Conservative MP Matas Maldeikis described the former ambassador’s comment as “an emotional outburst from someone who forgot that it is not a diplomat’s job to dictate musical taste in a sovereign country”.
“Lithuania voted as it chose – both the jury and the viewers, who awarded generous points to Israel’s song. In the years when Lithuania’s jury supported Israeli entries, we didn’t hear any lectures from the former ambassador about ‘Politburos’,” he posted on Facebook.
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