Israel’s gay Isil Eurovision spoof too close to reality for France

ISRAELI television has been forced to postpone airing a comedy about the French Eurovision contestant being recruited by Isil, in a bizarre case of life imitating art.

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 this year.

The show’s writers crafted an outlandish plot based on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) manipulating the French Eurovision nomination so that a gay Muslim singer would represent the country.

The jihadists then threatened the singer so he would go along with their plot to attack Israel.

However, in January real life started catching up with the Israeli script.

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

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

“We believe that the French thought

‘Hassani has been the victim of a series of threats and slanders precisely due to the things that we write about’

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

Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, 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 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 British designer 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.

Meanwhile, Israel’s security forces are mounting a huge operation in Tel Aviv to keep the competition secure.