Eurovision body to vote on Israel's participation in 2026 contest
EBU invites 68 member broadcasters to a November vote; a simple majority could exclude Israel from the 2026 edition
The European Broadcasting Union, the body that runs the Eurovision Song Contest, said Friday it will hold a vote on whether Israel should be allowed to participate in next year’s competition. All 68 EBU member broadcasters will be invited to cast their views at a general assembly in early November. A decision will be by a simple majority, meaning that if more than half of the members vote to exclude Israel, the country would not take part in 2026.
The vote will include broadcasters that do not participate in Eurovision as part of the organization’s membership, such as Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Jordan and Lebanon. The next edition of Eurovision is scheduled to take place in Vienna.
Israel placed second in the most recent Eurovision Song Contest in May, with its act Yuval Raphael, though Austria was declared the overall winner after the jury portion of the voting. The organization said the 70th edition of the contest would be held in Austria’s capital. In recent weeks, several European nations have signaled they might drop out if Israel continued to participate, highlighting the polarized debate surrounding arts and politics amid the Gaza war.
Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain have all suggested they could withdraw if Israel’s involvement persisted. Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ described Israel’s ongoing participation as “unconscionable” given the casualties in Gaza, while the Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said Israel’s inclusion could no longer be justified amid the humanitarian crisis. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan defended participation, saying it is a longstanding, popular participant in the contest and that excluding Kan would be troubling ahead of the event’s 70th edition.
Austria’s foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger has previously written to colleagues in several countries urging reconsideration of boycotts, arguing that Eurovision and the arts are not appropriate arenas for sanctions. In the United Kingdom, the BBC continues to broadcast Eurovision, with Tim Davie saying he is aware of concerns around Israel taking part.
The Gaza conflict preceded by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, at least 65,419 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.