The organizers behind the Eurovision Song Contest have decided to postpone a previously planned vote on whether or not Israel would be included in the 2026 competition, due to the state’s extreme military assault on Gaza following a 2023 attack by Hamas that led to the abduction of more than 250 Israelis.
NME reports that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has issued a statement stating that “recent developments in the Middle East” have led to the cancellation of a virtual meeting, scheduled for November, where a vote on the matter was to take place. Instead, Israel’s participation will now be discussed during an in-person meeting in December. It is, however, unclear if there will still be a vote.
The announcement comes after a ceasefire was called last week, and this week Hamas freed the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel returning hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who’d been held in Israeli jails.
The next Eurovision meeting will be at their winter general assembly
“In the light of recent developments in the Middle East, the EBU’s executive board (meeting on October 13) agreed there was a clear need to organise an open and in-person discussion among its members on the issue of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026,” the EBU said in its public statement.
“Consequently, the board agreed to put the issue on the agenda of its ordinary winter general assembly, which will be taking place in December, rather than organising an extraordinary session in advance,” the organization added.
Following the 2025 Eurovision contest, Spain became the first of the ‘big five’ countries to pledge a boycott of the competition over Israel’s inclusion in the 2026 contest, due to the country killing nearly 70,000 Palestinians — per Reuters — in its two-year assault on Gaza, which has been called a genocide.
Spain has participated in every Eurovision for 65 years
These ‘big five’ countries are Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the U.K., and are the countries that make the biggest financial contributions to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Every year, they are granted inclusion in the Eurovision finals, regardless of how they placed in the contest the previous year, or without making it through the semi-finals.
If Israel participates in 2026, it would mark Spain and RTVE’s first time sitting out Eurovision since they first joined 65 years prior, in 1961. Other countries that have threatened to boycott the contest if Israel participates include Ireland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia.
In a previous comment to NME, Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green CBE said: “The EBU is an association of public service broadcasters, not governments. We remain in constant contact with all participating broadcasters of the Eurovision Song Contest, including RTVE in Spain, and take their concerns seriously.”
Some have called for Israel to willingly abstain from Eurovision 2026
“Now that the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 has concluded,” he added, “we will have a broad discussion with all participating broadcasters to reflect and obtain feedback on all aspects of this year’s event as part of our planning process for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest next year.”
There have also been unofficial calls for Israel to simply choose to sit out the contest, but there’s no word if they are seriously considering this option.
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