{"id":627680,"date":"2026-09-17T17:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627680\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T17:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:16:09","slug":"ireland-to-boycott-eurovision-again-over-israeli-participation-and-ongoing-gaza-deaths-eurovision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627680\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland to boycott Eurovision again over Israeli participation and ongoing Gaza deaths | Eurovision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland is to boycott Eurovision<\/a> for the second year running over the \u201cappalling\u201d ongoing killing in Gaza, the national broadcaster has said.<\/p>\n

Ireland was one of five countries<\/a>, along with Iceland, Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia, that refused to take part in the competition this year in protest against Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 announced on Thursday it would not participate in the 2027 competition. The Dutch broadcaster Avrotros announced its own boycott<\/a> last month, calling Eurovision a \u201cplatform for division\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Irish broadcaster said: \u201cRT\u00c9 feels that Ireland\u2019s participation cannot be justified given \u200cthe appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s Eurovision is to be held in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas, after the country won for the first time in May.<\/p>\n

Norwegian singer Emmy Kristine, known as Emmy, representing Ireland in 2025\u2019s Eurovision at the St Jakobshalle arena in Basel, Switzerland. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Avrotros said it would not take part, claiming the competition \u201ccan no longer be considered neutral, with a participating country still involved in a large-scale military conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n

Eurovision\u2019s director, Martin Green, said he regretted but respected RT\u00c9\u2019s decision. \u201cThey remain a valued part of our family and will be missed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat power to bring people together is at the heart of what makes the contest so special and is even more important now in an increasingly difficult and divided world,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll broadcasters decide on an annual basis to participate in the following year\u2019s contest. We will remain in dialogue with RT\u00c9 and hope to welcome them back to the contest in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Broadcasting Union, which organises the event, has tried twice to address broadcasters\u2019 concerns over the participation of Israel.<\/p>\n

Last year it reduced the number of votes<\/a> that could be entered online or by telephone by one individual, amid allegations Israel had mounted a disproportionate campaign for public votes.<\/p>\n

Last month the EBU announced that broadcasters would no longer be eligible to host the Eurovision song contest if their state was involved in an \u201carmed conflict\u201d<\/a> or in a \u201csensitive geopolitical situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Eurovision has faced protests in and outside the competition venues in recent years over the participation of Israel<\/a>, a competitor since 1973.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the European Commission made an unusual intervention<\/a> after the organisers banned audience members from waving the EU flag at the grand final in Sweden, describing the decision as \u201cmind-blowing\u201d and \u201cregrettable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Palestinian authorities report that more than 73,000 people have been killed in \u200bIsrael\u2019s war on Gaza<\/a>, \u200cwhich was launched \u200bafter Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 \u200bpeople in an attack on southern Israel in October 2023.<\/p>\n

A US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year calls for eventual reconstruction of the territory but Israeli strikes have continued. According to Gaza\u2019s health ministry, 1,369 Palestinians have been killed and 4,627 wounded since the fragile ceasefire took effect on 11 October 2025.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland is to boycott Eurovision for the second year running over the \u201cappalling\u201d ongoing killing in Gaza, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-627680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627680","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=627680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}