Golda Meir wasn't a big fan of Eurovison in archived interview

Meir, with cigarette in hand, is seen holding her head disapprovingly as she references "that festival in Paris, the competition."

MAY 15, 2019 18:45

GOLDA MEIR takes a cigarette break, 1973 (photo credit: CAMERA PRESS LONDON) — GOLDA MEIR takes a cigarette break, 1973

(photo credit: CAMERA PRESS LONDON)

An archived interview with former Prime Minister Golda Meir conducted after Israel won Eurovision in 1978 shows that Israel's "Iron Lady" did not seem to be such a huge fan of the Eurovision song competition, according to Mako.

Meir, with cigarette in hand, is seen holding her head disapprovingly as she references "that festival in Paris, the competition," in the clip released on Wednesday.

לא תאמינו מה חשבה גולדה על האירוויזיון והניצחון שלנו ב-1978 https://t.co/NqlO0g80Opהכתבה המלאה עם הריאיון הגנוז תשודר בשבוע הבא במהדורה המרכזית בקשת 12 @zionnenko @mako_feed pic.twitter.com/DTOMKHcF8h
— החדשות (@NewsChannelIL) May 15, 2019

When Meir told the interviewer that she had watched the competition, he replied, "So? We won first place."

"Yeah, great," Meir responded offhandedly.

Meir referred to all the Eurovision performances as "imitations of America."

"Everyone was the same thing: American," Meir remarked disapprovingly, mockingly imitating the noise and movement of the event with a wave of her hand.

"Are you at least in some way happy that we won first place with this song?" the interviewer asked Meir at the end of the interview.

After a short pause, Meir responded with a smile, "Why would I spoil the happiness of others?"

Israel won their first Eurovision competition in 1978 with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. The next year, the competition was held in Jerusalem.

The clip released on Wednesday is part of a longer, archived interview which will feature in the documentary "Golda." The film will play at the DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv next week with another 120 new films.

The documentary is largely based on the full interview from which the clip released today was taken. The archived interview was recorded after shooting ended for an interview which was released on Israeli television at the time.

In the interview, Meir intimately discussed her term as prime minister, according to the description of the film on DocAviv's website. The film will screen at the DocAviv festival on Saturday, May 25, Wednesday, May 29 and Friday, May 31.