Eurovision backlash over Israel set to grow as politics overshadows song contest

Competition faces a public with rising expectations over values

The Eurovision Song Contest, the world's largest live music competition, faces the possibility of mass withdrawals over Israel's participation. AFP

The Eurovision Song Contest is wrestling with one of the biggest crises in its history as at least four European countries are to boycott the 2026 competition over Israel's participation.

The aim of the boycott is to signal disapproval of Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 people. But there are also suspicions of voter fraud in the past two years. Political controversies are likely to continue plaguing Eurovision as both states and organisers lean into value signalling, the historian Dean Vuletic told The National.

“What if Israel wins next year? I doubt the Slovenians are going to fly to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem for 2027,” Mr Vuletic, who has written a book on Eurovision, said.

Boycotts have been rare in Eurovision's history. But using it as a platform for political messaging has been common since it was founded in 1956, when Germany's first participant was a Holocaust survivor. In 1969, Austria boycotted Eurovision host Spain in protest against the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

This time around, Austria, which will host Eurovision 2026, has argued against a boycott. Speaking during a visit to Jerusalem last month, the director of Austria’s public broadcaster ORF, Ronald Weissmann, said “Israel is an integral part of the contest.”

Despite being the target of criticism since the 1960s over voting rules and quality of music, Eurovision has persisted and become the world's largest live music competition.

Protesters outside the headquarters of the Irish public broadcaster RTE in Dublin. Reuters

Many now view it as an embodiment of European common values. That is “fake news”, according to Mr Vuletic, who says the archives show European broadcasters wanted to test how well they could broadcast simultaneously across Western Europe at a time of emerging mass television.

BDS 'victory'

It was not until Tel Aviv hosted Eurovision in 2019 that the contest became a focus of pro-Palestinian campaigners. Like Australia, Israel participates in Eurovision despite not being located on the European continent, because it is viewed as espousing European and Western values.

Now, campaigners view the decisions of Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia to boycott as a victory. Belgium, Finland and Iceland are also considering their options.

These choices reflect political decisions made in the past years towards Israel. Boycotting states include the handful of EU countries to have taken individual targeted sanctions against Israeli extremist ministers in the absence of consensus at European Union level.

“Israelis are in a celebratory mood but this is has been a key aim of the boycott, divest and sanctions movement,” Mr Vuletic said. “I think it's going to be the fuel also for a further campaign.”

In a closed-door vote on Thursday at the headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Geneva, Eurovision participants voted to address criticism of Israel's lobbying campaigns to boost its votes. New rules were adopted, but the majority shied away from calls to exclude Israel, in a move welcomed by Israel and states including Germany, the UK and France.

International consensus

Exclusions have, however, become more common in recent years. Russia was excluded in 2022 after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one year after Belarus was kicked out over political lyrics. The first country to be excluded was Romania in 2016 because it had not paid its dues.

Ronald Weissmann, the head of Austria's ORF broadcaster. Reuters

“Initially, the reasons for exclusion were financial rather than political,” Mr Vuletic said. “But in recent years, they have become more political, as there is an expectation that Eurovision and the European Broadcasting Union should stand by the values that it espouses.”

In the 2010s, Eurovision and the EBU adopted a set of values including universality, diversity, equality and inclusivity. These have come under close scrutiny, as with other platforms with massive audiences, such as the Olympic Games.

Russia's exclusion came in a context of international sanctions, which is not the case with Israel, explained Mr Vuletic. “The EBU, as a non political organisation, doesn't have a political agenda. It doesn't set foreign policies,” he said. “But it works in a context of international political consensus.”