Israel has finished second at the Eurovision Song Contest for the second year in a row, once again powered by a massive public televote, despite widespread protests, broadcaster boycotts and growing scrutiny over the war in Gaza.
This year’s contest, held in Vienna, was won by Bulgaria for the first time, with singer Dara taking the trophy with her dance anthem Bangaranga. However, much of the discussion surrounding the event focused less on the music and more on Israel’s participation amid the continuing war in Gaza.
Public broadcasters in Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia boycotted the competition in protest against Israel’s inclusion. Their withdrawal reduced the number of participating countries to 35 – the contest’s lowest total since 2003.
Eurovision’s results are decided through a split voting system. Half of each participating country’s score comes from a professional five-member music jury, while the other half comes from viewers voting at home through phone calls, text messages and the Eurovision app. Each country awards points separately for jury and public votes, with the audience vote often dramatically reshaping the leader board during the live final.
Ahead of the finals, criticism intensified after allegations that Israeli-linked promotional campaigns had aggressively mobilised public votes in previous years. Israeli public broadcaster Kan received a formal warning from organisers over videos posted online in which contestant Noam Bettan courted votes too aggressively, after a similar controversy involving Israel last year. Kan eventually took the videos down.
The EBU also tightened voting rules and limiting the number of public votes per person to 10. Countries are not allowed to vote for themselves.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Eurovision director Martin Green acknowledged “disproportionate marketing” had fuelled the change in rules. “We saw some activity last year, which we could describe as disproportionate marketing and promotional activity, that we felt was out of synch with the nature of the show, so we put some rules in about that,” Green said.
The divisions had been building for months. Several broadcasters and artists had urged contest organiser, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to ban Israel from the contest, arguing that its inclusion contradicted Eurovision’s claims of political neutrality, particularly after Russia was barred from the competition following its invasion of Ukraine.
Israel’s 2026 entry, the love song Michelle, was less politically charged than last year’s submission, which was performed by an October 7 survivor and led to demonstrations across Malmo during the 2025 contest. Still, the country again surged up the leader board after the public vote was revealed.
Boos could reportedly be heard in the arena when Israel’s televote tally was announced, echoing scenes from last year’s final. Reuters also reported that a small group of protesters disrupted Tuesday’s semi-final by shouting “Free Palestine” and “Stop the genocide” during Bettan’s performance before being removed from the venue.
This year's winner Dara, whose real name is Darina Yotova, said Bangaranga “is a feeling that everybody gets in themselves”.
“It's the moment that you choose to be in love and not fear. This is a special energy … Once you feel at one with nature and your universe, you feel the harmony that you can be whatever you want to be and that everything is possible,” she said.
