The Eurovision Song Contest and its organisers — the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) — are under scrutiny after announcing last week that Israel would be allowed to participate in its 2026 edition, which will be held in Vienna, Austria, in May.
Broadcasters from five countries announced they would be withdrawing as a result; the latest to join was Iceland.
The announcement followed renewed calls for Israel to be excluded over its two-year-long military campaign in Gaza, which has devastated the enclave and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.
That offensive began in October 2023, after the attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza.
Some EBU members had publicly warned ahead of last week's decision that they would boycott the 2026 contest if Israel were allowed to compete, and some called for a vote on Israel's participation to be held at the EBU general assembly on 4 December in Geneva.
Instead, the EBU put forward a ballot around new rules aimed at discouraging governments from influencing the contest and its results, a motion which passed.
That came after accusations that Israel could have manipulated the public vote in 2025 to boost its entrant, October 7 survivor Yuval Raphael, who placed second in this year's contest.
The EBU said that a vote on Israel's participation was not required, as a large majority of members had agreed with Eurovision proceeding as planned with the new rules in place.
The president of Slovenian broadcaster RTV — one of the networks to exit the contest — noted that while the EBU banned Russia from Eurovision almost immediately after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it "does not dare reject Israel".
So, what led to this point, what are the criticisms, and why do organisers say it's a different situation this time?
Which countries have pulled out of Eurovision 2026, and what have others said?
Immediately after Eurovision's announcement, broadcasters from four countries announced they would withdraw from next year's contest: Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia.
Spain's exit in particular is notable as it is one of the contest's largest financial contributors and automatically qualifies for the grand final each year.
Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS said its participation in next year's contest could not be "reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation".
Irish public broadcaster RTÉ said Ireland's involvement would be "unconscionable" given the "appalling loss of lives in Gaza" and ongoing humanitarian crisis.
José Pablo López Sánchez, head of Spanish state broadcaster RTVE, said the EBU's decision meant Eurovision was no longer a song contest but instead "dominated by geopolitical interests and fractured".
This week, Iceland became the fifth country to join the boycott — reportedly the last country to make its decision on participation.
Stefan Eiriksson, the director-general of Iceland's national broadcaster RÚV, said the broadcaster had stepped back as there was "no peace or joy connected to this contest" as it currently stood.
Eiriksson said Israel's participation had "created disunity" among members of the EBU, along with the general public.
Broadcasters from 34 countries have signalled their intention to compete in Eurovision 2026, including SBS in Australia. This year, there were 37 entrants.
Eurovision director Martin Green said that EBU members had engaged in a "full, frank, honest and quite moving debate" last week.
Green said members had come together on a belief that "Eurovision Song Contest shouldn't be used as a political theatre".
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was "pleased" with the decision, saying in a post on X that he hoped the contest would "remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding".
Several other countries also expressed approval. In the UK, broadcaster BBC — a member of the EBU — said it supported the decision made by the union and would continue to broadcast the event next year.
"This is about enforcing the rules of the EBU and being inclusive."
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said Eurovision was a "non-political celebration of music and culture", while German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said culture should unify and that the contest should not be "a venue for political differences".
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he was glad organisers did not "yield to pressure" from opposing countries.
Have Eurovision contestants criticised Israel's involvement?
Over the last two years, Israel has faced objections to its participation in Eurovision not only by EBU members but also by contestants themselves.
Nemo, the Swiss singer who won 2024's contest, said earlier this year that they backed calls for Israel to be excluded, saying the country's actions in Gaza were "fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold — peace, unity, and respect for human rights".
Austrian singer JJ, who won this year's contest in Switzerland, was quoted by Spanish newspaper El País shortly afterwards as saying it was "disappointing" to see Israel's continued involvement, and that he would like the 2026 edition to be held without Israel.
In May, more than 70 past Eurovision contestants released an open letter calling for the EBU to ban Israel from participating.
Why is Australia still competing in Eurovision?
SBS is an associate member of the EBU and Australia's official broadcaster of Eurovision, having aired it every year since 1983 and making its competition debut in 2015.
It will participate again in 2026 — both sending a representative to compete and broadcasting the event.
"Our position remains that, as a public broadcaster, making a decision to be involved based on the inclusion or exclusion of any country would undermine SBS's editorial independence and impartiality," an SBS spokesperson said.
"SBS recognises and respects the deeply held views and concerns about the war in the Middle East and its impact, both locally among our audiences and internationally, as reflected by other broadcasters. Our responsibility is to provide comprehensive, trusted and impartial coverage for Australians across our network, and we will continue to do so."
Demonstrators demanded SBS boycott the contest, with some arguing that Eurovision allowing Israel to compete despite its actions in Gaza was in opposition to the contest's goal of neutrality.
Why was Russia banned from Eurovision?
Russia was barred from participating in Eurovision in February 2022 — one day after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
At the time, the EBU cited the "unprecedented crisis" in Ukraine, and said including a Russian entry in that year's contest would "bring the competition into disrepute".
In May that year, the EBU formally suspended its Russian members, indefinitely revoking their broadcasting and participation rights for future editions of Eurovision. Russia has not competed since.
Why is Israel allowed to compete?
Critics of the EBU's decision to permit Israel to compete have compared it to the choice to exclude Russia from the competition — arguing Israel's war on Gaza merits a similar response.
While a tenuous ceasefire has been in place in Gaza for two months, Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating it.
Israel has carried out frequent airstrikes since the ceasefire came into effect, often claiming they are in response to Hamas violations.
More than 360 Palestinians have been killed and more than 920 injured since the agreement came into effect on 10 October, according to Gaza health authorities. Israeli officials say three Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in that time.
In September, a landmark UN-affiliated commission of inquiry report said Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars and Amnesty International are among other groups that have concluded Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel has long denied these accusations.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Netanyahu's office rejected those allegations at the time.
The ICC simultaneously issued a warrant for Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, accusing him of bearing responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Deif had been killed months earlier in an Israeli airstrike, but this had not yet been verified.
In late 2023, South Africa launched a case alleging that Israel had committed and was committing genocide in Gaza in contravention of the Genocide Convention, which Israel rejected as "baseless" and argued it was acting in self-defence. The case is ongoing.
This week, SBS News asked Eurovision how the decision to exclude Russia from the 2022 contest was reached, and why Israel's actions did not meet the same criteria.
Eurovision, in response, said the EBU "handles any situation individually according to its rules and governance procedures".
A spokesperson said Eurovision's governing board concluded in 2022 that Russia's participation would "directly undermine the contest's rules and values" and that organisers "acted to prevent bringing the competition into disrepute".
The spokesperson added that Russian broadcasters were widely considered to be "very close to the Russian government" when they were excluded, and were suspended from the EBU for "breach of public service values".
They noted that the organisations were placed under sanctions by the European Union and Swiss authorities.
Eurovision said that Israel's public broadcaster, Kan, remained a member of the EBU and that the EBU had "supported it in resisting attempts by the government to shut it down or restrict its ability to operate sustainability and independently".
Eurovision also said that the issue of Israel's involvement in the contest had led to "the most thorough consultation process" in its history, speaking to directors general and heads of delegation involved in the contest.
It "culminated with rule changes announced in November to protect the neutrality of the event that were discussed and emphatically supported by 65 per cent of members voting at the EBU's general assembly on 4 December", the spokesperson said.
Share
