Eurovision organizers to decide on Israel’s participation in 2026 event
Singer Yuval Raphael representing Israel with the song "New Day Will Rise" at the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Basel
By Charlotte Reck, CNN
(CNN) — Organizers behind the Eurovision Song Contest, the fun-filled pop music spectacle that draws millions of viewers globally, are meeting on Thursday to discuss Israel’s participation in next year’s competition, amid calls for the country to be excluded over the war in Gaza.
The meeting at the Geneva headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries who run the show, will consider new rules unveiled last month to limit governments and third parties from disproportionately influencing voting.
Several nations expressed concerns over Israel’s participation in the competition due to its war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel. The conflict killed more than 70,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN is reported to have continued with its preparations for the 2026 competition and will be presenting its position on possible disqualification at Thursday’s meeting, Reuters reported.
If members cannot agree on the new safeguards put in place, a vote on Israel’s participation may be held, the EBU said. If a vote is held, an absolute majority would be required for an exclusion to pass.
“The neutrality and integrity of the Eurovision Song Contest is of paramount importance to the EBU, its members, and all our audiences. It is essential that the fairness of the contest is always protected,” competition director Martin Green said in November.
He added that they were taking “clear and decisive steps to ensure the contest remains a celebration of music and unity.”
The Eurovision Song Contest, which started in 1956, is a famously eccentric festival that sees artists from dozens of countries battle it out for the annual musical crown. Last year’s contest was watched by 166 million people, 3 million more than the previous year, according to the EBU.
It has sought to put music ahead of politics but has seen pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the last two contests in Switzerland and Sweden.
This is not the first time world events have become a divisive issue for the competition, with the EBU banishing Russia from participating following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Spain, one of the so-called Big Five who make the largest financial contributions to the contest, has threatened to boycott the 2026 event in Austria if Israel is allowed to participate, as has Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands. Germany, another of the major contributors, has backed Israel.
“Israel belongs in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC),” Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer previously told Reuters, “There must be no ESC without Israel.”
Arriving for talks Thursday, Portuguese broadcaster RTP president Nicolau Santos told Reuters, “Yes, we will have a very, I suppose, interesting discussion (on Israel’s participation). So, we have to wait for the end of the meeting.”
“Eurovision is becoming a bit of a fractured event,” Paul Jordan, a Eurovision expert who goes by the moniker Dr Eurovision told the Associated Press. “The slogan is ‘United by Music’ … unfortunately it’s disunited through politics.”
Last week, Austria’s Foreign Minister Beate Meini-Reisinger reiterated the contest’s longstanding claim to be a space of political neutrality. Addressing the planned boycott of the 70th edition of the event in 2026 by a handful of nations, she insisted the contest was “not an instrument for sanctions” in a post on X and made an appeal to European partners to find ways to “improve the situation in Israel and Gaza” together.
CNN’s Stephanie Halasz contributed to this reporting.
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