Eurovision 2026: faced with Israel’s participation, which countries are boycotting?

Faced with the refusal to exclude Israel, they withdrew from the competition. Five countries are not taking part in the 2026 edition of the Eurovision song contest which starts this Tuesday, May 12 in Vienna (Austria), with a first semi-final. Fifteen candidates, including the Hebrew state represented by Noam Bettan, will compete for their place in the final this Saturday.

But Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia are missing. They decided not to send a candidate due to the presence of Israel, which they accuse of conducting the war in Gaza in retaliation for the attack on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on its soil.

Participation incompatible with the “values” of Dutch television

If Iceland and the Netherlands will broadcast the three evenings of competition, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia refuse to do so and will not broadcast the event. Potential spectators will have to go through the online broadcasts offered by Eurovision on its social networks if they want to attend the performances of the 35 participating countries. In Slovenia, RTVSLO will instead broadcast Palestinian films and documentaries throughout the evening on Saturday evening.

In the fall, the public television stations participating in Eurovision on behalf of these countries justified their decision: the Dutch broadcaster Avrotros considered that its “participation was not compatible with (s) fundamental public values”, when the Irish RTÉ withdrew “given the appalling human losses in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis which continues to endanger the lives of so many civilians”.

“The situation in Gaza, despite the ceasefire and the approval of the peace process, as well as the use of the competition for political purposes by Israel, makes it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event,” also reacted the secretary general of the Spanish public television channel RTVE, Alfonso Morales, followed by the Slovenian TV director Ksenija Horvat: “For more than a year we have been warning about the fact that we cannot share the same scene as a representative of a country responsible for the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Organized pro-Palestinian demonstrations

Pro-Palestinian activists protested this Tuesday afternoon by placing coffins in the center of the Austrian capital. In a statement, they regretted that “despite its crimes, Israel has the opportunity to be celebrated this week in Vienna as a democratic and peaceful rainbow nation.”

More than a thousand artists or groups have also called for a boycott, as has Amnesty International. Amichai Chikli, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed concern in a press release about a “strong, coordinated surge in anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli speeches around Eurovision 2026”.

“I have instructed to expand real-time monitoring and alerts, and to work together with relevant authorities and our partners around the world to protect Israeli citizens and Jewish communities,” he added.