The Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that runs the Eurovision Song Contest, announced Thursday that it will hold a vote in November on whether Israel can participate.
This vote had been planned for December but was suddenly moved up.
There has been pressure to hold this vote from several European public broadcasters, and four countries have already announced that they will not take part in the 2026 song contest, which will be held in May 2026 in Vienna, if Israel takes part, because of the war in Gaza.
Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Iceland have all announced they will not participate if Israel takes the stage. Spain’s decision is especially significant because it is one of Eurovision’s “big five” sponsors, along with France, Italy, Germany, and the UK.
When calls were made to boycott Israel in 2024 and 2025 due to the war, the EBU issued statements repeatedly stating that Eurovision is not a competition between governments, but between public broadcasters, and that KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster, had not violated its rules.
Russia was suspended from the competition following its invasion of Ukraine because its public broadcaster broke EBU rules by broadcasting government propaganda.
KAN receives government funds, but its content is independent, and it has, in fact, angered the government so much that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has threatened to shut it down and has tried to pass legislation to dismantle it. KAN remains a member in good standing of the EBU.
KAN issued a statement, saying, “KAN, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, expresses its firm hope that the Eurovision Song Contest will continue to uphold its cultural and non-political identity. The potential disqualification of Israel’s public broadcaster KAN - one of the contest’s long-standing, popular, and successful participants - would be especially troubling ahead of the 70th edition of the song contest, which was founded as a symbol of unity, solidarity, and fellowship. Any such move could have wide-ranging implications for the competition and the values for which the EBU stands. The EBU Statutes stipulate, for a good reason, that extraordinary decisions of this kind require a 75% majority of the General Assembly - an exceptional majority. We are confident that the EBU will safeguard the contest’s professional, cultural, and non-political character as it marks the historic 70 years milestone of uniting by music.”
Despite KAN’s statement, the website Eurovision Fun reported that it was not clear how the votes would be counted: “As announced by the EBU, in this vote, EBU membership status will not be linked to Eurovision participation or to the issue of Israel’s participation. However, what is not clarified in the EBU’s statement is whether the decision will be taken by a simple majority or by a three-quarters majority, as stated in the EBU’s statutes for votes concerning membership status, a point also highlighted in KAN’s statement.”
Israel's participation in Eurovision
Israel has been taking part in Eurovision, which was established after World War II to provide a forum for peaceful competition among nations, since 1973. It has won the competition four times, in 1978, 1979, 1998, and 2018. Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre, came in second overall in 2025, winning the audience voting with the song, “New Day Will Rise,” an anthem of resilience in the face of tragedy.
Several countries whose contestants trailed Raphael accused Israel of cheating in various ways in 2025, claims that the EBU dismissed. Israel’s 2024 contestant, Eden Golan, finished in fifth place with the second-highest score in the audience voting. Israel’s high scores with audiences indicate that, while public officials in some European countries don’t want Israel to participate, Eurovision viewers do.
In a recent article, Ynet quoted Yoav Tzafir, who has taken part in Israel’s Eurovision delegations for several years, as saying, “I know there are behind-the-scenes talks, and KAN is trying to do things. Public diplomacy is super important — at Eurovision and beyond. This is our weakness, and we must improve, especially in situations like this.”