I mean, there’s obviously something going on. Public sentiment towards Ukraine is still strong and you still see yellow and blue flags flying but sympathy for Israel was never as strong and it’s since massively died off given how they’ve reacted. The vote is clearly not a reflection of genuine public opinion. But what’s going on, are certain people just voting loads of times?
No, they’re a weird special case who have been invited for no obvious reason other than that it makes for a good Eurovision (which, to be fair, is a decent reason).
Everyone else who participates meets the normal criteria though (Israel included).
Australians I’ve spoken to have mixes feelings. On the one hand, there’s a subculture of ozzies who love it because it’s the only camp entertainment that gets broadcast out there. They have Eurovision parties and so on, getting together to watch it. Having Australia in the competition might persuade broadcasters to show more camp/silly entertainment.
On the other hand, they agree it’s silly to join and still have it called Eurovision, and are worried Australia might taint it somehow