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\n 12\/09\/2025 – 8:51 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
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Ireland have announced that they will boycott Eurovision 2026<\/a> \u201cif the participation of Israel goes ahead\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Irish broadcaster\u00a0RT\u00c9<\/a>\u00a0released a statement\u00a0saying\u00a0that at the General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest,\u00a0in July, \u201ca number of EBU members raised concerns about the participation of Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest\u201d.<\/p>\n The statement read: \u201cIt is RT\u00c9\u2019s position that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, if the participation of Israel goes ahead, and the final decision regarding Ireland\u2019s participation will be made once the EBU\u2019s decision is made\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n The broadcaster added: \u201cRT\u00c9 feels that Ireland\u2019s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza. RT\u00c9 is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n This follows comments made by Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun\u00a0regarding Spain\u2019s participation in Eurovision next year.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Euronews Culture reported that Spain also threatened to withdraw from the contest if Israel is kept on the line-up<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think we can normalise Israel\u2019s participation in international events as if nothing is happening,\u201d said Urtasun during an interview on\u00a0La\u00a0hora de La 1 on TVE. \u201cIt is not an individual artist who participates but someone who participates on behalf of that country\u2019s citizens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Urtasun said that if Israel participated in 2026\u00a0\u201cand we fail to expel it, measures will have to be taken\u201d – as cited by the Spanish daily newspaper\u00a0La Vanguardia<\/a>\u00a0– and reminded viewers that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez previously called on EBU to ban Israel from the international competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n In May, S\u00e1nchez called on the EBU to exclude Israel<\/a>, saying that “no one was shaking their heads” when Russia was banned from international competitions and Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine. He called for the same ban to be applied to Israel over the Gaza war.\u00a0<\/p>\n Urtasun specified that it is not antisemitic to denounce the \u201cgenocide\u201d taking place in Gaza and described Israel as a \u201cgenocidal government.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n These statements by Ireland and Spain, as well as growing public protests<\/a>, show quite to what extent Eurovision is facing a huge\u00a0crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n The contest has been caught up in\u00a0political tensions\u00a0over Israel\u2019s participation for two years now<\/a>, and the director of Slovenia\u2019s national broadcaster, RTVSLO, has already announced that it will likely withdraw from the contest next year if Israel participates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Indeed, Ksenija Horvat recently said that RTVE had reached out to EBU several times with concerns\u00a0regarding\u00a0Israel\u2019s participation in next year\u2019s competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n RTVSLO called for the expulsion of Israel from Eurovision 2025, joining more than 70 former Eurovision contestants\u00a0signing an open letter demanding Israel and its national broadcaster KAN\u00a0be banned<\/a>\u00a0from the contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n The winner of last year\u2019s Eurovision,\u00a0Austrian singer JJ<\/a>, has said that he too\u00a0wants Israel to be banned from the Eurovision 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n The EBU has extended its penalty-free withdrawal deadline to December, when a final decision on Israel\u2019s participation is expected at the General Assembly.<\/p>\n Since Hamas\u2019 attack on Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023, multiple UN human rights experts\u00a0have stated that Israel\u2019s military actions in Gaza amount to genocide<\/a>, with the International Court of Justice finding claims of genocide plausible.\u00a0<\/p>\n