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.”
Read more: UN adopts resolutions to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories and Syria’s Golan Heights
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.
Watch: Breaking the silence: Roger Waters on Palestine, censorship, and self-censorship
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.”
The post Public broadcasters quit Eurovision 2026 over participation of Israel appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.
From Peoples Dispatch via this RSS feed
As wrong as it is, at least I get why the US gov (even before Trump) would suck Israel’s dick, and vice versa.
But why do so many EU countries give a fuck? Like cracking down on pro Palestine rallies and protests? What interest do they have in supporting Israel’s bullshit?
Judging by what’s slowly leaking out on the international operation of Epstein, the Mossad has for decades been running a Pedophilia ring to catch VIPs in the West and get some blackmail material on them.
This blackmail material is now being used.
Wild theory (though way less wild now with what’s come out of Epstein’s activities), though together with the increased Corruption in Politics all over the West (an indication of a laxer legal environment towards politicians and increasing rot amongst politicians) it explains not just Israel’s apparent immunity whilst committing their very own Holocaust, but also things like the push in the last decade of so for more covert authoritarian mechanisms in the West, with things such as Chat Control, to catch and suppress dissent amongst the general population, including early stage alternative political movements.
(That said, I bet most of the blackmail material is not specifically involving pedophilia, though clearly the Israelis were also putting a lot of effort into that).
Did you hear about WW2? I’m not excusing anything and I think all countries should boycott. Totally hypocrisy to exclude Russia and not Israel.
But the holocaust happened in Europe, and ultimately that’s why, in my opinion.
Ok, maybe Germany feels obligated. I don’t see why any other EU gov should give a fuck.
Like UK is cracking down on all the pro Palestine rallies. (Ok, they have to always agree with the US, fine.)
That’s two then.
But the rest I don’t get.
For Britain it’s nothing to do with WWII. It goes back to the British Mandate and the Balfour Declaration, basically in the hopes that jews would leave Britain if the Zionists got their way.
When did Israel move to Europe?
EBU membership corresponds to the Europe Broadcasting Area as defined by the ITU. This is based on signal propagation and historical telegraph routes more than geography. As such, the north coast of Africa as well as the Levant are in the area, while Kazakhstan and large parts of European Russia are not.
as requested by several members, including Montenegro, Algeria, Türkiye, and Iceland
Algeria?
The countries on the north coast of Africa fall inside the ITU European Broadcasting Area.
Me in the US: Yeah no Eurovision!
