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<\/p>\nSeveral countries have pulled out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after Israel\u2019s participation was confirmed.<\/p>\n
Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia have announced they will boycott the singing competition, after the general assembly in Geneva on Thursday to discuss the future of the competition.<\/p>\n
The BBC has yet to confirm whether it will participate but the Conservatives said it is \u201cabsolutely right\u201d for Israel to be part of Eurovision and that boycotts announced by several countries are \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shadow culture secretary Nigel Huddleston said: \u201cIt is deeply concerning to see so many countries choosing to boycott the event because of Israel\u2019s inclusion. Music should be a uniting force, not a tool to be weaponised for political ends.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe trust the Government will clearly rule out joining or legitimising this boycott in any capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irish national broadcaster RTE said it will not broadcast or take part in the song contest, describing its participation as \u201cunconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n
The RTE statement said: \u201cFollowing today\u2019s EBU winter general assembly in Geneva at which Israel\u2019s participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest was confirmed, RTE\u2019s position remains unchanged.<\/p>\n
\u201cRTE will not participate in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, nor will RTE broadcast the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cRTE feels that Ireland\u2019s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cRTE remains deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denial of access to international journalists to the territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 contest will be held in Vienna after a narrow victory by Austria\u2019s act, JJ, with Wasted Love, beat Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, who was runner-up after receiving the largest number of votes from the public combined with the jury votes.<\/p>\n
In September, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia threatened to withdraw unless Israel was excluded over the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Dutch broadcaster Avrotros also announced that it would not broadcast the competition, saying it would be \u201cincompatible with the public values that are essential to us\u201d.<\/p>\n
Taco Zimmerman, chief executive, said: \u201cThis was not an easy decision, and we didn\u2019t make it lightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Eurovision Song Contest is incredibly valuable to us. Culture unites, but not at all costs. What happened last year touches our boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversal values like humanity and a free press have been seriously violated and are non-negotiable for us. Furthermore, last year\u2019s political interference demonstrated that the independence and unifying nature of the Eurovision Song Contest can no longer be taken for granted.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe choose the core values of Avrotros and, as a public broadcaster, have the responsibility to remain true to these values, even when that is complicated or vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dutch public broadcasting organisation NPO will continue to ensure that next year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest will remain available for Dutch viewers and fans.<\/p>\n
Slovenian broadcaster RTV said it was pulling out of the competition \u201con behalf of the 20,00 children who died in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n
In her address to members before the decision, Natalija Gorsck, RTV Slovenia board chairwoman, said: \u201cFor the third year in a row, the public has demanded that we say no to the participation of any country that attacks another country. We must follow European standards for peace and understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurovision has been a place for joy and happiness from the very beginning, performers and audiences have been united by music, and it should remain that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur journalists were not and still are not allowed to enter Gaza, where more than 200 journalists were killed. Last year we saw that the Israeli performance was political. Don\u2019t forget that we banned a similar performance by a Russian singer in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur message is: we will not participate in the ESC if Israel is there. On behalf of the 20,000 children who died in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the decision to allow Israel to compete at next year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest, the country\u2019s president Isaac Herzog wrote on X: \u201cIsrael deserves to be represented on every stage around the world, a cause to which I am fully and actively committed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased that Israel will once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest and I hope that the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to all our friends who stood up for Israel\u2019s right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision. This decision demonstrates solidarity, fellowship and co-operation, and reinforces the spirit of affinity between nations through culture and music.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iceland broadcaster RUV said its board would discuss whether it would participate at a meeting next Wednesday after previously agreeing to a motion to recommend Israel be expelled from the contest.<\/p>\n
Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but Israel has continued to compete for the past couple of years despite disputes.<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated against Israel\u2019s inclusion near a free concert in the centre of Basel when the 2025 competition took place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several countries have pulled out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after Israel\u2019s participation was confirmed. Ireland, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17948,61,60,43,6085],"class_list":["post-175310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-eurovision","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-rte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}