this post was submitted on 10 May 2024

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Belgium broadcaster interrupts Eurovision semi final to condemn Israel's war on Gaza (www.middleeasteye.net)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A Belgian broadcaster interrupted its coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final on Thursday night to display a protest message condemning Israel's war on Gaza. In an act organised by a trade union, the screen briefly went black ahead of the semi-final coverage on VRT, Belgium's public-service broadcaster in Flemish.

It then aired the message: "This is a union action. We condemn the human rights violations by the state of Israel. Moreover, the state of Israel destroys press freedom. Therefore, we are interrupting the broadcast momentarily."

The message concluded with the hashtags "CeasefireNow" and "StopGenocide".

A spokesperson for VRT told Belgian media that the broadcaster was aware the action would take place. "We were informed that it would happen. Trade unions have the right to take action and do not need permission for it. I can only confirm that we have taken note of the action," said spokesperson Yasmine Van der Borght.

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[–] [email protected] 142 points 5 months ago

This can only happen in nations where strong unions are supported and seen as a necessity for the benefit of the people.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 5 months ago

Based Belgium

[–] [email protected] 55 points 5 months ago

That's impressive. 👍

[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Unfortunately, Israel stands to win tomorrow because right wingers that are usually antisemites, have suddenly decided that they hate Muslims more.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

How does voting for Eurovision work? Is it ID registered or something?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

You can call/text up to 20 times, or vote online. But basically ripe for being rigged

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

So you're telling me it's pay2win...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

Essentially, yeah (:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

~~Online voting is free of charge.~~ Apparently it costs e.g. 0,20 € from Germany and 0,99 € from a non EBU or not participating country.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

No, it also prompts a payment dialogue

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What would happen if someone were to, say, use free phone numbers from Google voice or something like that to spam thousands of votes?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

No idea, but I'm guessing the might block payments via their number. (you have to to pay still, besides the calling fees,im pretty sure)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Ooohh, I misunderstood. I thought it was like, "20 free call-votes then your votes stop counting" kinda thing.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago

Aren't the winners already decided in before anyway?

I really doubt that any winner has been chosen by real votes for years.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 months ago

"interrupt" is carrying more weight than what happened. They showed this message after the credits rolled.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

This might be the final edition of the contest given how insanely chaotic it is.

Belgium didn't qualify to the final, and rightfully so, since they don't have to deal with any additional chaos. Also, their neighbors the Netherlands got disqualified for allegations with one of the producers.