Eurovision addresses the thorny question about Israel
GENEVA (AP) — Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest, the feel-good pop music gala that attracts more than 100 million viewers each year, will meet Thursday to address a bitter and divisive issue: whether Israel should be allowed to participate in the 2026 competition.
The European Broadcasting Union, a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that organizes the contest, is holding a general meeting, and some countries are calling for Israel to be excluded for alleged interference in the contest voting and its conduct of the war against the Hamas militant group in Gaza.
Experts predict that delegates will not reach a united position on the issue at the EBU headquarters in Geneva and it is unclear whether a vote will be called. That would mean broadcasters might have to decide, alone or as a dissident group, whether to participate as individual countries.
“Eurovision is becoming a fractured event,” said Paul Jordan, an expert on the contest known as Dr. Eurovision. “The motto is ‘United by Music’…unfortunately it is disunited through politics.”
“It’s become a pretty confusing and toxic situation,” he added.
Divided by politics
The competition, whose 70th edition is scheduled for May in Vienna, pits artists from dozens of countries against each other for the continent’s musical crown.
He strives to put pop before politics, but has repeatedly found himself embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 following its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The war in Gaza has been its biggest challenge, with pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Israel outside the last two Eurovision contests in Basel, Switzerland, in May and Malmo, Sweden, in 2024.
The war in Gaza has also exposed divisions in the world of European broadcasting. Austria, which will host after Viennese singer JJ won in May with “Wasted Love,” supports Israel’s participation. Germany is also said to support Israel.
AP Photo/Martin Meissner
Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain are among the countries that have threatened not to participate in the contest if Israel is allowed to participate.
Opponents of Israel’s involvement criticize the conduct of the war in Gaza, which has left more than 70,000 dead, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led government and whose detailed records are generally considered reliable by the international community.
Israel’s government has repeatedly defended its campaign as a response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants that started the war. The militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack and took 251 hostages.
The voting process is complex
Israel has also faced accusations of interference in the Eurovision voting process.
It is unclear whether a decrease in violence in Gaza, where a US-brokered ceasefire holds, or the EBU’s plans to change voting processes to guard against political interference will be enough to placate some broadcasters who are on the fence on the issue.
The EBU said officials will be asked at Thursday’s meeting to consider that package of new measures, including reducing the number of votes per payment method and returning “professional juries” to the semi-finals.
A vote on participation will only be held if member broadcasters decide those measures are not sufficient to protect the “neutrality and impartiality” of the contest, the broadcasters union said in an email Wednesday.
Members have until mid-December to confirm their participation next year, and the final list will be announced by Christmas, he said.
Different scenarios are possible
Eurovision expert Dean Vuletic said a boycott by any EU member country would be significant because “they are not dictatorships” and are intended, like Israel, to share values of democracy, human rights and diversity.
“It would be the biggest boycott of Eurovision ever. There have been boycotts in the past, but they have usually been bilateral,” said Vuletic, author of “Post-War Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The least likely scenario, he said, would be for Israel to unilaterally decide not to participate: the country’s national broadcaster, Kan, has made no such announcement.
The consequences of a boycott could have implications for audiences and money at a time when many broadcasters are under financial pressure from government funding cuts and the advent of social media that has diverted attention.
The countries threatening to withdraw include some big names from the Eurovision world.
Spain is part of the “Big Five” of countries with large markets that contribute the most to the contest. Ireland has won seven times, a record it shares with Sweden, while Iceland has the highest audience share of any country, according to Vuletic.
Controversy over Israel’s participation in 2026 threatens to overshadow the return next year of three countries – Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania – after periods of absence for financial and artistic reasons.
“There are no winners here. Regardless of what happens – whether Israel enters or leaves, whether countries stay or leave – it is not what Eurovision should be. It is meant to be joyful and bring people together despite our politics,” Jordan said. “Unfortunately, I think it’s become a bit of a political football.”
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Lawless reported from London.