# Israel's Eurovision Soft Power Play: A Million Dollars in Votes

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/belfast-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7598384/israel-s-eurovision-soft-power-play-a-million-dollars-in-votes
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/belfast-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7598384/israel-s-eurovision-soft-power-play-a-million-dollars-in-votes.md
Podcast: [Belfast News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now!](https://stenobird.com/podcast/belfast-news-today-2-min-news-the-daily-news-now-7598384)
Published: 2026-05-12T18:10:51+00:00
Episode link: https://api.fastcast.ai/audio/689f63a9-11ee-4b42-9919-88976bdf833b.mp3
Audio file: https://api.fastcast.ai/audio/689f63a9-11ee-4b42-9919-88976bdf833b.mp3
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Duration seconds: 93

## Resource

Israels Eurovision Strategy Unveiled: A New York Times investigation reveals Israels government spent over a million dollars on ad campaigns to rally Eurovision votes, treating it as a soft power play. Despite Irelands withdrawal due to Gaza conflict, Irish viewers still supported Israel. The campaigns, which included multilingual online ads and calls to vote, helped Israels Yuval Raphael dominate televotes in Spain. Eurovision bosses introduced new rules to curb government promo blitzes, while RTÉs decision to air a Father Ted episode instead of the final broadcast sparked controversy. Support the show: Get a discount at https://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN: advertise@thednn.ai This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting. Report issues to feedback@thednn.ai. View sources & latest updates: https://sources.thednn.ai/26aa4d7885a325c5

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## Transcript

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