{"id":13990,"date":"2025-12-04T21:38:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurovisionandfriends.com\/?p=13990"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:56:18","slug":"boycott-eurovision-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eurovisionandfriends.com\/en\/boycott-eurovision-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurovision 2026 boycott: EBU upholds Israel, Spain and 3 other countries walk out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The General Meeting of the\u2019EBU<\/a> meeting in Geneva on Thursday will be remembered as a turning point for the Eurovision Song Contest. After a vote by its members, the EBU confirmed Israel's participation in the 2026 edition in Vienna. The response was swift: a wave of historic boycotts immediately shook the small world of Eurovision, with the announcement of the withdrawal of several major countries, including one of the \u00ab\u00a0Big Five \u00bb<\/a> Spain. The boycott of Eurovision 2026 is well under way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Was the Eurovision boycott predictable after more than a year of tension?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since the final in May 2025, the legitimacy of Israel's participation has been at the centre of controversy. Suspicions of a state campaign to influence the televoting had created an unprecedented rift in the Eurovision family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, however, the EBU tried to put out the fire ahead of its meeting by proposing a set of new rules <\/a>These include the return of professional juries to the semi-finals, the need for a more diverse composition of juries, a reduction in the maximum number of votes per payment method, and above all, a rule explicitly prohibiting governments from taking an active part in promoting songs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for many broadcasters, these measures did not answer the essential question. Should the Israeli broadcaster KAN be allowed to take part or not, given the geopolitical context and past misbehaviour, whether in 2024 with accusations of denigration of certain candidates by the delegation, or in 2025 with suspicions of political manipulation of the televoting results?.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members' votes: legalising a contested form of participation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Meeting in Geneva late on Thursday 04 December, EBU members voted to adopt the new regulations in their entirety, effectively rejecting a request from several broadcasters (including Slovenia, Spain, Iceland and the Netherlands) to hold a separate secret ballot on the exclusion of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EBU has stated that a \u00ab\u00a0large majority<\/em>\u00a0\u00ab of the members had decided that there was \"\u00a0no need for a new vote on the shareholding<\/em>\u00a0\u00ab and that the edition should \"\u00a0proceed as planned<\/em>\u00ab . In other words: acceptance of the new rules paved the way for the participation of all members, including Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Withdrawal announcements: Spain leads the way in the boycott<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The response was immediate, marking the start of an unprecedented wave of boycott of Eurovision 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n