European Music Competition
Israel has been given the green light to participate in next year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, the European Broadcasting Union announced. In response, several countries promptly withdrew their participation – including Spain and the Netherlands.
Israel will be allowed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026 in Vienna. Following the approval of a rule change by the member broadcasters of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), all countries that wish to participate in the music competition are now permitted to do so, the EBU announced.
Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog praised the decision."Israel deserves to be represented on all the world's stages," Herzog wrote on the X platform."I am delighted that Israel will once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest." The Israeli president also thanked Israel's friends who had championed the country's right to continue participating in the competition.
Four countries respond with a boycott.
Following the decision, broadcasters from several other countries announced a boycott of the music competition: Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia have already officially declared their withdrawal.
The Spanish broadcaster RTVE is one of the five main financial backers of the event. With seven victories at the Eurovision Song Contest and its predecessor events, Ireland is one of the most successful countries in the long-established music competition.
ARD praises EBU decision
Iceland had already threatened to withdraw from the EBU event before the meeting. Other countries, such as Belgium, Sweden, and Finland, were also considering a boycott. The broadcasters in these countries justified their stance by citing the high number of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza war caused by the actions of the Israeli army.
ARD, on the other hand, backed the decision to allow Israel to participate and expressly welcomed the EBU's decision."We are very pleased that in the end the rules, values, and impartiality of public service media proved stronger than the emotional public debates of the day," said Katja Wildermuth, Director General of BR. She sits on the Executive Board of the European Broadcasting Union as a representative of ARD and ZDF.
New rules for the Eurovision Song Contest
To defuse the conflict, the EBU announced new rules for the competition in November. These include, among other things, the inclusion of professional juries in the semi-finals and stricter rules for advertising campaigns.
The broadcasters united in the EBU apparently voted by a majority at their closed-door meeting to classify the package of measures as sufficient and not to vote specifically on Israel's participation, as reported by the AFP news agency.
EBU: ESC should have nothing to do with politics
The EBU stated that its members had expressed their"clear support for reforms to strengthen trust and protect neutrality." This would allow all members to participate.
The dispute over Israel is arguably the biggest rift in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, the world's most-watched music competition, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year. The EBU and the ORF, the host broadcaster, have held numerous talks in recent weeks to prevent a boycott. One of the key messages was that the world's biggest music spectacle is a public service broadcasting event and should have nothing to do with politics.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is an association of broadcasters in 56 countries across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
