This year's final was yesterday.

Because they had a massive campaign to influence votes through marketing two years in a row now, and them winning the popular vote this year is sketchy. Supposedly, last year's song, which also got very high televote results, did not chart anywhere on streaming services in spite of its supposed popularity. RTVE (Spanish public broadcasting) has launched an investigation into the votes cast from the audience, according to El Pais. And if there was no cheating, that means that either people genuinely liked the song, or that there's enough brainwormed people to vote Israel out of the desire to take a stance for good or whatever friends of moral thinking like to preach. Also: "no proof needed" is a foolish statement.

Iceland can do better, and did so at the start of the decade, but this year's song was mid.

Because Israel is a member of the European Broadcasting Union. Technically, any member country could participate. Morocco did once in 1980, for example. In practice, I have a hard time thinking they'd allow say China to join in, if they wanted... which a broadcaster from Hunan apparently wanted to do around 10 years ago.

Stereo Love was never a Eurovision song. Also shame on you for great recession era nostalgia.