Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was given the all-clear to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls by several participating broadcasters for its exclusion over the war in Gaza.
No vote on Israel’s participation was held on Thursday at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that organises the hugely popular international annual singing competition.
Instead, participating broadcasters voted only to introduce new rules designed to stop governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters.
The actual reason is that Israel is a part of the EBU, as are countries like Turkey, Algeria, and Morocco. Technically any of these member states can participate, they just choose not to. This is also why Australia and Azerbaijan are in Eurovision! It’s a kind of wacky roster, which is part of what makes it highly entertaining, in my opinion. Of course, I will not be watching it this year for the first time in many years.