Irish broadcaster RTE requests Eurovision vote breakdown amid Israel 'televote manipulation' concerns

Irish public broadcaster RTÉ requested a breakdown of voting numbers for the recent Eurovision Song Contest, amid concerns that Israel may have won televotes through manipulation.

Similar requests have been submitted by other European public broadcasters, including by Spain's RTVE, which requested a review to "avoid external interference and manipulation", and Flemish broadcaster VRT, which demanded "full transparency" over the televote.

Amid huge controversy over its participation in the competition, Israel reached the final on Saturday and ended second with 357 points to Austria's 436.

Israeli entrant Yuval Raphael won the most televotes; however, it did not convince the judges on the night.

The juries of Spain and Belgium gave Israel zero points, while televoters in both countries awarded Raphael the maximum of 12 points.

Ireland's jury gave Israel seven points, while the televote gave 10.

The current televote system allows home viewers to vote up to a maximum of 20 times by text message or phone call.

demanding that organisers investigate the televoting system, which allows voters at home to vote up to 20 times for a small cost charged to each vote by text or phone call.

"A system in which everyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation," said Flemish MP Katia Segers.

"Whether this manipulation occurred in our country and all other participating and non-participating countries must be investigated."

RTVE President José Pablo López also weighed in, expressing "great concern about Israel's participation, transparency, legitimacy and perceived integrity of the current voting system".

In a statement emailed to The New Arab, Eurovision Director Martin Green said the competition can confirm it has "been in touch with several of them since Saturday’s Grand Final regarding voting in the competition".

"Now that the event has concluded, we will have a broad discussion with participating broadcasters to reflect and obtain feedback on all aspects of this year’s event as part of our planning process for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest next year.

"It is important to emphasise that the voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world, and each country’s result is checked and verified by a huge team of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns.

"An independent compliance monitor reviews both jury and public vote data to ensure we have a valid result."

Israel's participation in the Eurovision was once again surrounded by controversy this year, amid Tel Aviv's brutal war on Gaza, which has killed over 61,700 Palestinians since October 2023.

Dozens of former Eurovision contestants demanded that Israel be barred from the competition, while activists called for a boycott.