Germany, a major Eurovision backer, had signalled it would not take part if Israel was barred. Germany's culture minister Wolfram Weimer told the Bild newspaper he welcomed the decision."Israel belongs to the Eurovision Song Contest like Germany belongs to Europe," he said.
Die Abstimmungsregeln für den Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) werden geändert. Das teilte die Europäische Rundfunkunion (EBU) mit. Ziel sei es, Vertrauen und
