Five Countries Withdraw from 2026 Eurovision Song Contest
Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain have pulled out of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest scheduled for Vienna, citing Israel's continued participation amid the Gaza conflict and past government-backed voting campaigns. A New York Times investigation published May 11, 2026, detailed a years-long state-level influence operation.
ForbesFive countries have announced they will not participate in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. Ireland’s RTÉ, the Netherlands’ AVROTROS, Slovenia’s RTVSLO, Iceland’s RÚV and Spain’s RTVE cited Israel’s continued participation and the situation in Gaza as reasons for their decisions.
According to the sources, Israel has been a member of the European Broadcasting Union since 1973 and has competed in Eurovision since then, winning the contest four times. In the 2025 contest held in Basel, Israel’s entry came first in the public televote while Austria’s JJ topped the jury vote.
The EBU stated that the 2025 vote had been independently checked and verified, with no evidence that voting up to 20 times disproportionately affected the final result. The final result is determined by a 50-50 split between national jury votes and the public televote.
At the EBU General Assembly in Geneva in December 2025, members voted on new rules that halved the maximum number of televotes per payment method from 20 to 10, increased jury sizes, and explicitly discourage promotion campaigns backed by governments or government agencies.
Approximately two thirds of EBU members voted that the rule changes were sufficient and that no separate vote on Israel’s participation was needed.
The sources report that promotional videos in 13 languages featuring Israel’s 2026 representative Noam Bettan were released on 8 May 2026 urging viewers to use all ten votes for Israel. Eurovision director Martin Green confirmed the EBU contacted Israeli broadcaster KAN within 20 minutes of becoming aware of the videos and issued a formal warning.
KAN attributed the campaign solely to Bettan rather than the broadcaster and disputed that any unlawful funding had been involved. A faction of Eurovision fans circulated a counter-complaint arguing that encouraging maximum support was not a rule violation.
Israel’s 2026 entry cleared approval only after additional EBU reviews and lyric revisions. The 2026 contest will feature 35 participating countries, the smallest number since 2003 before the introduction of semi-finals. Noam Bettan is scheduled to perform “Michelle” for Israel in semi-final one in running order position ten, between Estonia and Belgium.
The sources note that demonstrations against and in support of Israel competing are scheduled for Vienna during contest week. A pro-Palestine concert is scheduled in Vienna on Friday, coinciding with Nakba Day.
