“It is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the Contest, undermining its neutral character. The Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division,” said Taco Zimmerman, Director-General of AVROTROS in a statement from the broadcaster.
The contest has recently been hit by a wave of boycotts over Israel’s participation.
Earlier this month, organisers announced they were excluding any country involved in an armed conflict from hosting the competition.
The 2026 competition was watched by 131 million viewers, down 35 million on the year before after five countries boycotted it over Israel’s participation.
The Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia all pulled out of the contest – with the latter three refusing to broadcast the show at all.
Earlier this month, organisers announced they were excluding any country involved in an armed conflict from hosting the competition.
So Israel is out, right? Or did they define ‘armed conflict’ in such a way that it excludes what is happening in Gaza?
Notice ,hosting" … this doesn’t exclude participating.
Ah, so it’s not about any moral objection, it’s just to make sure the venue doesn’t get bombed during the event.
It’s not unprecedented. When Ukraine won a couple of years ago, the UK hosted on behalf of them because of the war there.
But, but…but itssss a ceeeease fiiiire.
Stop being Anti Semetic!
Been a big fan of EV for three decades, but I totally support this view.
Voting has always been political (both at panel and public levels) and to be fair to the organisers they’ve tried to address this in recent years. But keeping Israel in this year was bizarre and totally changed the tone. Russia was rightly excluded, but not Israel? And no declaration that it will be different next year?
There has always been controversy, but rarely at the level if keeping in a country nobody else wants. The Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia and not being unreasonable.
