Can Israel stay in Eurovision?

Organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest announced on Friday that member broadcasters of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) will vote in early November on whether Israel can take part in next year’s competition, amid growing calls for the country’s exclusion over the war in Gaza.

EBU spokesperson Dave Goodman confirmed in an email that the vote will be held at an extraordinary general meeting of members conducted online, according to US media.

The decision will focus on whether Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster and an EBU member, will be allowed to participate in the 2026 contest. An “absolute majority” of votes will be required to exclude Israel, Goodman said.

Mounting criticism has put pressure on the EBU. Broadcasters in countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain have warned they will boycott the event unless Israel is excluded. Germany and Austria, by contrast, have backed Israel’s participation, while other broadcasters, including the BBC, have yet to clarify their stance.

The dispute marks one of the most serious challenges in the contest’s history, according to Dean Vuletic, a historian specialising in Eurovision.

“This is one of the biggest crises that Eurovision has ever faced because it has the potential to really cement division within the organisation,” he said. “If we have two blocs, one threatening a boycott and another steadfast in support of Israel, then this is potentially the most serious crisis the contest has faced.”

Eurovision has been shaped before by politics and regional rivalries. In 2024, organisers instructed Israel to change the lyrics of its original entry, “October Rain” — widely seen as a reference to Hamas’ October 7 attack — before permitting singer Eden Golan to compete with the retitled “Hurricane.”

Vuletic noted that while there have been exclusions in the past — such as Yugoslavia in the early 1990s due to UN sanctions during the Balkan wars, Belarus in 2021 for its crackdown on media freedoms, and Russia in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine — none of those cases sparked divisions within the EBU as intense as those now unfolding.

Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, wrote on X on September 25 that it hoped Eurovision “will continue to uphold its cultural and non-political identity.”

Austria, which will host the 2026 contest in Vienna after Austrian singer JJ won this year’s competition in Basel with “Wasted Love,” has sought to defuse tensions. Last week, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meini-Reisinger warned against politicising Eurovision, insisting it “is not an instrument for sanctions.” She said she had written to her European counterparts, urging them to work together to “improve the situation in Israel and Gaza.”

The 2026 contest is scheduled for May in Vienna. Whether Israel will be present on stage may depend on the November vote — a decision now shaping up as one of the most consequential in the contest’s long and often politically charged history.

By Tamilla Hasanova