Israeli TV delays show about gay Muslim Eurovision contestant working for Islamic State

When Oscar Wilde wrote: "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life", it is unlikely he was talking about the Eurovision Song Contest.

Nevertheless, Israeli television has been forced to postpone airing a comedy about the French Eurovision contestant being recruited by the Islamic State after it led to threats of France pulling out of the singing competition.

Israeli producers began working on the programme, Douze Points, last year after an Israeli singer's Eurovision victory meant that the final would be staged in Tel Aviv in May 2019.

The comedy's writers crafted an outlandish plot about how Isil hacked France’s Eurovision nomination so that a gay Muslim singer would represent the country.

The jihadists then threaten the singer so he will go along with their plot to attack Israel.  But in January real life started catching up with the Israeli script.

douze points tizer ENGLISH subs from FIRMA Creative Production on Vimeo.

France selected Bilal Hassani, an openly gay 19-year-old of Muslim Moroccan origins as its Eurovision contestant.

Mr Hassani’s selection suddenly brought the Israeli series under intense scrutiny. France threatened to boycott Eurovision if Douze Points was aired before the competition in Tel Aviv.

“We believe that the French thought we wrote the series after they chose Bilal Hassani. But we wrote it long before that. It really is a story that turned out very similar to what actually happened,” Asaf Zelikovitch, the show’s co-creator, told Haaretz.

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, initially held firm in the face of European outrage and said it would stick to plans to air the comedy 11 days before Eurovision begins on May 14.

However, as the pressure mounted, Kan’s board eventually relented and agreed to delay the programme until after Eurovision.

“We’re surprised and disappointed at the decision to postpone the airing of the series, mainly in light of the fact that it doesn’t insult the French or Eurovision,” Mr Zelikovitch said.

“The absurd thing is that since being chosen, Hassani has been the victim of a series of threats and slanders precisely due to the things that we write about in the series,” said Yoav Havel, the programme’s other co-creator.

A number of cultural figures, including Vivienne Westwood, have called for artists to boycott the Israeli-hosted Eurovision because of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have dismissed the threats as discrimination against the only Jewish state.

Israel’s security forces are mounting a massive operation in Tel Aviv to secure the competition.

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