For nearly three years now, a moral, cultural and political battle about Israel has been raging across the West.
On one side are those who still remember the lessons of history and who recognise the ancient hatred of the Jewish people, even when they see it wearing new clothes.
On the other side are those who have chosen to excuse, minimise, rationalise or even celebrate evil, so long as that evil is directed at Israel.
In the mainstream media, this anti-Israel side has largely had the upper hand – which is hardly surprising given that much of the media class leans extreme left. As such, Israel is mostly demonised while propaganda from Iran or Hamas or Hezbollah is repeated without scrutiny.
But outside the mainstream media, the battle is much less settled. On social media, in comment threads, in private conversations, in churches, workplaces and family gatherings, millions of ordinary people are pushing back. These people don’t have newsrooms or access to taxpayer-funded broadcasters. But they can still see – and many of them know that the campaign against Israel is not really about contemporary events. It is simply the latest manifestation of something older, darker and more dangerous.
The problem is that we rarely get to hear from those people. There is no global referendum asking what the public think about Israel, no international ballot asking ordinary people whether they stand with the Jewish state.
Or is there?
Last weekend, Israel came second in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Again.
Israeli singer Noam Bettan’s ‘Michelle’ followed Yuval Raphael’s second place in 2025 with New Day Will Rise, and Eden Golan’s fifth place in 2024 with Hurricane.
Taken on their own, those results could simply be seen as evidence of strong songs and outstanding performers – and to be clear, all three Israeli artists deserved their success on artistic merits alone.
But anyone pretending this is only about the music is not paying attention – because, since October 7, 2023, Eurovision has become a de facto referendum on Israel and the Jewish people. In the absence of other channels to express their support – this bizarre music contest has somehow become a place where ordinary people can register their view on Israel and the Jewish people directly, privately and at scale. And every year, despite the protests, despite the campaigns, despite the childish booing, despite the pressure on organisers, despite the endless attempts to turn Israel into an international pariah, the public has pushed Israel upward.
Not into first place. Not the trophy, the jury vote or the approval of broadcasters – but the public vote, the vote of ordinary viewers sitting at home – repeating a story that the anti-Israel establishment does not want to hear.
Eurovision voting is not a simple total of raw votes. In the final, each country produces two separate rankings: one from its own ‘professional jury’ and one from its public televote. In each ranking, the top ten countries receive fixed points – 12 for first place, 10 for second, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 – and all of those national point scores are added together to produce the final result.
Understanding this helps to understand the difference between the ‘public’ view and the establishment view. In 2024, Israel finished fifth overall, but its support came overwhelmingly from the public (323 public points compared with just 52 jury points). In 2025 the same thing happened again. Israel surged on public support, finishing second overall with 297 audience points but only 60 jury points. In 2026, Israel finished second again, with another strong public vote helping place it near the very top of the contest.
No, this is not science or ‘proof’ in the formal sense. It doesn’t mean that every person who voted for Israel was making a political statement. Some just liked the songs.
But let’s not be naïve.
People are voting for the performance, yes – but many are also voting against the mob, against the lies, and against the attempts to shame and exclude the Jews.
Eurovision has given ordinary people something they almost never get: a direct way to answer the cultural establishment – and the answer has been gloriously inconvenient.
This is why Eurovision now matters in a way it probably never intended. It has accidentally become one of the clearest tests of the gap between activist opinion and public instinct.
It shows that despite the marches, slogans, boycotts and moral bullying, millions of people recognise that Israel has been grotesquely misrepresented and that Jewish people are again being asked to justify their survival. They recognise that the same world which once said “never again” is now flirting with the same hatred under a different vocabulary.
And they aren’t buying it….
Ashley Church is former CEO of the Property Institute of New Zealand and is an active social commentator. This article was sourced HERE
But outside the mainstream media, the battle is much less settled. On social media, in comment threads, in private conversations, in churches, workplaces and family gatherings, millions of ordinary people are pushing back. These people don’t have newsrooms or access to taxpayer-funded broadcasters. But they can still see – and many of them know that the campaign against Israel is not really about contemporary events. It is simply the latest manifestation of something older, darker and more dangerous.
The problem is that we rarely get to hear from those people. There is no global referendum asking what the public think about Israel, no international ballot asking ordinary people whether they stand with the Jewish state.
Or is there?
Last weekend, Israel came second in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Again.
Israeli singer Noam Bettan’s ‘Michelle’ followed Yuval Raphael’s second place in 2025 with New Day Will Rise, and Eden Golan’s fifth place in 2024 with Hurricane.
Taken on their own, those results could simply be seen as evidence of strong songs and outstanding performers – and to be clear, all three Israeli artists deserved their success on artistic merits alone.
But anyone pretending this is only about the music is not paying attention – because, since October 7, 2023, Eurovision has become a de facto referendum on Israel and the Jewish people. In the absence of other channels to express their support – this bizarre music contest has somehow become a place where ordinary people can register their view on Israel and the Jewish people directly, privately and at scale. And every year, despite the protests, despite the campaigns, despite the childish booing, despite the pressure on organisers, despite the endless attempts to turn Israel into an international pariah, the public has pushed Israel upward.
Not into first place. Not the trophy, the jury vote or the approval of broadcasters – but the public vote, the vote of ordinary viewers sitting at home – repeating a story that the anti-Israel establishment does not want to hear.
Eurovision voting is not a simple total of raw votes. In the final, each country produces two separate rankings: one from its own ‘professional jury’ and one from its public televote. In each ranking, the top ten countries receive fixed points – 12 for first place, 10 for second, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 – and all of those national point scores are added together to produce the final result.
Understanding this helps to understand the difference between the ‘public’ view and the establishment view. In 2024, Israel finished fifth overall, but its support came overwhelmingly from the public (323 public points compared with just 52 jury points). In 2025 the same thing happened again. Israel surged on public support, finishing second overall with 297 audience points but only 60 jury points. In 2026, Israel finished second again, with another strong public vote helping place it near the very top of the contest.
No, this is not science or ‘proof’ in the formal sense. It doesn’t mean that every person who voted for Israel was making a political statement. Some just liked the songs.
But let’s not be naïve.
People are voting for the performance, yes – but many are also voting against the mob, against the lies, and against the attempts to shame and exclude the Jews.
Eurovision has given ordinary people something they almost never get: a direct way to answer the cultural establishment – and the answer has been gloriously inconvenient.
This is why Eurovision now matters in a way it probably never intended. It has accidentally become one of the clearest tests of the gap between activist opinion and public instinct.
It shows that despite the marches, slogans, boycotts and moral bullying, millions of people recognise that Israel has been grotesquely misrepresented and that Jewish people are again being asked to justify their survival. They recognise that the same world which once said “never again” is now flirting with the same hatred under a different vocabulary.
And they aren’t buying it….
Ashley Church is former CEO of the Property Institute of New Zealand and is an active social commentator. This article was sourced HERE
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