Four countries to boycott Eurovision 2026 as Israel cleared to compete | Eurovision

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was confirmed to compete in the 2026 song contest. Despite calls from many participating broadcasters for it to be taken down due to the war in Gaza.

On Thursday, there was no vote on Israel’s participation at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the hugely popular annual international song contest.

Instead, participating broadcasters voted only to introduce new rules designed to prevent governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters.

“The vast majority of members agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the 2026 Eurovision song contest should go ahead as planned with additional security measures in place,” the EBU said in a statement.

In response, Irish broadcaster RTÉ said it “will not enter the 2026 Eurovision song contest” or broadcast the contest.

“RTÉ considers Ireland’s participation to be unreasonable, given the appalling loss of life in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis that continues to put the lives of many civilians there at risk,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

Spanish broadcaster RTVE also stated that it will not broadcast the competition and semi-finals to be held in Vienna next year, describing the decision-making process as “inadequate” and creating “distrust”.

RTVE, along with seven other countries, had formally requested a secret ballot at the broadcasters’ summit in Geneva on Thursday.

“The EBU presidency rejected RTVE’s request for a specific vote on Israel’s participation. This decision increases RTVE’s distrust of the festival organization and confirms the political pressure surrounding the festival,” the statement said.

Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, also supported the decision and added: “You cannot acquit Israel by considering the genocide in Gaza. Culture should be on the side of peace and justice. I am proud of an RTVE that puts human rights before any economic interest.”

Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that it would also withdraw from next year’s competition. “After considering all perspectives, Avrotros concludes that participation under current circumstances cannot be reconciled with the public values ​​that are fundamental to our organisation.”

Slovenian national broadcaster RTVSLO, which was the first organization to threaten a boycott this summer, said participation would “contradict the values ​​of peace, equality and respect”.

At Thursday’s meeting, EBU members discussed new rules designed to prevent governments and third parties from promoting songs to influence voters.

Some countries expressed concerns about improper promotion methods after Israel came first in the public vote in the competition in May and ranked second in the general classification after the jury votes were taken into account.

The proposed rule changes were seen as an olive branch for broadcasters critical of Israel, but were seen as insufficient for most of the countries that had signaled their desire to boycott the event.

Sixty-five percent of delegates voted in favor of amending the song contest and no further discussion of Israel’s participation, while 23% voted against and 10% abstained.

Among those supporting the changes were Scandinavian broadcasters from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, all of whom said they would continue to support the song contest.

In a joint statement, they said they “supported” the EBU’s decision to “address critical deficiencies” in the voting system but believed “it is important that we maintain an ongoing dialogue on how to protect the credibility of the EBU and the Eurovision song contest moving forward.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the decision regarding his country’s participation and said Israel “deserves to be represented at every stage around the world.”

He wrote to

The 2026 edition of the world’s largest live music event, the 70th in its history, will be held in Vienna following the victory of Austrian singer JJ this year.

Leading politicians in Germany had suggested that the SWR broadcaster withdraw in solidarity if Israel was excluded. Austrian host broadcaster ORF also said it wanted Israel to compete.

SWR said before the meeting that Israel had the right to participate in the competition. It was stated that the competition has been “a competition organized by EBU broadcasters, not governments” for decades and that “Israeli broadcaster Kan has met all requirements for participation for 2026”.

Russia has been banned from Eurovision in 2022 following a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Israel, which has won the competition four times since its first event in 1973, has competed for the past two years despite controversy surrounding its participation.