Eurovision's Israel argument now lives inside the voting machinery. Thursday's paper said the contest had become two broadcasts on the same continent: Vienna on one screen, boycott programming on another. Friday's final-eve fact is narrower and more important. The EBU cut the per-viewer vote cap from 20 to 10 and warned Israel's KAN after a promotional clip urged viewers to use the new maximum. [1]

That turns soft power into rules. The BBC reported the rule changes alongside scrutiny of Israel's participation, and NBC described the boycott and voting fight as the contest entered its Vienna final. [1] [2] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has separately tracked allegations that Israeli state-linked promotion pushed voting campaigns in prior contests. [3]

This is not bookkeeping. If Israel places high, critics will call the televote organized. If it places low, supporters will call the cap punitive. Martin Green's promise that voting will be watched carefully is therefore not a public-relations line; it is the contest's only institutional defense.

Eurovision sells itself as a harmless pop ritual. Harmless rituals do not need credit-card geography checks, vote caps and monitoring warnings. This one does.

The final will crown a song. The argument after it will grade the counting system.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles