Over the weekend, Eurovision got a feel-good ending. Bulgaria won the contest for the very first time with their infectious song Bangaranga. And Australia came close - with Delta Goodrem placing 4th.

But the controversy over Israel didn’t go away. Israeli singer Noam Bettan finished second, after getting a huge huge public vote – despite protests outside the contest, boycotts from five countries, and warnings over the Israeli broadcaster KAN running a campaign telling people to vote ten times.

Eurovision insists it’s a non-political contest... but over the past three years, Israel’s place in it  has exposed how political that stage can be – and how useful it can be for a government trying to shape how the world sees it.

Today, author of Eurovision!: A History of Modern Europe Through the World’s Greatest Song Contest, Chris West, on the boycott, the vote, and how Israel turned the world’s biggest song contest into a soft-power campaign.

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Guest: Author of Eurovision!: A History of Modern Europe Through the World's Greatest Song Contest, Chris West.

Photo: EPA/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE