Above photo: Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign/X.
Broadcasters from at least four countries plan to exit Eurovision 2026.
After the European Broadcasting Union decided to allow Israel to compete.
At least four countries will withdraw from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest following a decision to allow Israel to compete. After a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) discussion in Switzerland this week, public broadcasters from Slovenia, Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands issued statements denouncing the failure to address concerns over Israel’s participation in the contest, while Palestine solidarity movements elsewhere in Europe are demanding from more broadcasters to follow suit.
“For more than a year, we have been warning that we cannot stand on the same stage with a representative of a country that has committed genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Ksenija Horvat, head of national broadcaster RTV Slovenija’s television program. “Our message is: we will not participate in Eurovision if Israel is there,” added Natalija Gorščak from the same media organization. “This is on behalf of the 20,000 children who died in Gaza.”
Broadcasters highlighted the targeted killing of hundreds of journalists in Gaza as part of their rationale for insisting that Israel be suspended from the competition. They argued that EBU leadership had succumbed to pressure and was hiding behind procedural maneuvers. Rather than hold a vote on Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2026, as requested by several members, including Montenegro, Algeria, Türkiye, and Iceland, the EBU proposed a new set of rules aimed at limiting political influence in contestants’ promotional campaigns. Aggressive messaging by Israel’s representatives has been a recurring issue for EBU members, but Spanish and other broadcasters stressed that technical fixes do not address the actual problem.
“The situation in Gaza, despite the ceasefire and the approval of the peace process, and Israel’s use of the contest for political purposes, make it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event,” Spain’s RTVE stated.
Artists and networks campaigning for Israel’s cultural boycott welcomed the decision by the four broadcasters. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee, wrote: “We welcome the European broadcasters heeding our call and boycotting Eurovision rather than participating alongside genocidal Israel. By helping to enable and whitewash Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Eurovision organizers, the EBU, are presiding over what is already the most disastrous edition of the contest ever.”
More EBU members are expected to discuss their plans for the 2026 contest as public pressure mounts. In Belgium, Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) parliamentarian Nabil Boukili called the EBU decision “proof of boundless hypocrisy” and urged Belgian broadcasters to withdraw and refuse to air the event. “Russia was excluded the day after the war in Ukraine began,” Boukili said. “But even after two years of genocide in Gaza, with the bombing continuing, the EBU continues to treat Israel as if nothing had happened.”
