Too close to home? A new Israeli drama gets less than the maximum mark from the French Eurovision Committee
A rather interesting case of life imitating art or vice versa is developing around the 2019 Eurovision contest scheduled to be held this May in Tel Aviv, Israel. The case involves an Israeli TV drama currently under development by the quasi-governmental Kann broadcasting cooperative. The drama, named “Douze Points” (Twelve Points) after the maximum mark a song can get from a Eurovision jury, involves a French Muslim singer, who is chosen to represent France at a fictional Eurovision contest that is held in Israel. Upon arriving in Israel, the singer pretends to be a homosexual, is suspected by the Mossad of being a terrorist, and is blackmailed by ISIS.
The adventures of the hapless, though entirely fictional French singer have not escaped the notice of the real-life French Broadcasting Authority. It would appear that said government agency was not impressed by the proposed story line of the Israeli TV drama. “If this production goes ahead, we will definitely boycott the 2019 Eurovision,” they have unequivocally stated. In a further bizarre twist of events, the actual French representative to this year’s Eurovision song contest is indeed a homosexual Muslim man.
Eldad Koblentz, the general manager of the Israeli broadcasting cooperative, which has already agreed to purchase the TV serial, is adamant in maintaining his decision to go ahead with it “from a principled perspective of freedom of artistic expression.'”
All is not lost however, because a high-level official from the European Broadcasting Union, the EBU, which is the governing body for the Eurovision contest will be shortly arriving in Israel to see if he can resolve the problem and avoid an unprecedented war between France and Israel on the dangerous battlefield of sugary pop music.
