The Israeli public broadcaster has apologised to the Armenian broadcaster following comments made by the Israeli commentators during Semi-Final Two.
AMPTV has received an official apology from the Israeli broadcaster KAN following comments made by the Israeli commentary team during Semi-Final Two of Eurovision 2025. Following the Armenian representative’s performance, one of the Israeli commentators said:
“I can’t believe we gave ‘these’ guys an entire quarter in Jerusalem… Survivor — that’s how we feel after watching this song.”
These comments saw AMPTV demand an explanation from KAN regarding the words used by its commentary team. The Director General of KAN sent a formal apology to his Armenian counterpart, stating:
“Eurovision broadcasts in Israel are traditionally accompanied by humorous and light-hearted commentary, during which the pair of commentators make funny and interesting observations about the songs, performers, and participating countries.
During the second semi-final of Eurovision, commentators made direct humorous comments, including about Armenia’s song, as they do with almost all performances. One of the jokes in question, which was aimed solely at the song and not at the country or the Armenian people, inadvertently offended some members of the Armenian community. This was, of course, not entirely intentional.
On the contrary, on several occasions, members of the Israeli delegation have highlighted the importance of the Armenian song and emphasized the warm relations between the two delegations. When we learned that the comment was perceived as an insult, the commenter who made the remark publicly apologized on his personal platform.
Additionally, a clarification will be provided by the commentators on tonight’s live broadcast. KAN – Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation sincerely apologizes for this humorous comment.
We wish Parg and the Armenian team good luck during today’s performance.
Sincerely, Golan Yochpaz, Director General of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation.”
Armenia was represented by Parg at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with “Survivor”. Armenia placed 20th in the final, scoring 72 points, including 12 points from the Maltese jury and 12 points from the public in Georgia.
Image source: Alma Bengtsson / EBU | Source: AMPTV
Armenia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 and has participated every year since, excluding 2012 and 2021. Armenia’s best results came in 2008 and 2014, when they finished 4th in the final. They have failed to qualify for the final on three occasions. Since their debut, they have finished in the top 10 in the final eight times.
