{"id":178405,"date":"2025-12-10T21:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/178405\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:13:09","slug":"fifth-nation-quits-over-israels-participation-in-song-contest-as-iceland-pulls-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/178405\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFTH nation quits over Israel’s participation in song contest as Iceland pulls out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iceland has officially pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, becoming the fifth nation to boycott the event following confirmation of Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n

The decision was announced after R\u00daV\u2019s board met in Reykjav\u00edk to determine the country\u2019s stance on competing in Vienna next May.<\/p>\n

Iceland now joins Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands, which withdrew from the competition in recent days.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipation of Israeli national broadcaster, KAN, in the contest has created disunity among both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the general public,\u201d R\u00daV stated.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200b\\u00c6B<\/p>\n

\u00c6B represented Iceland in Eurovision 2025<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The broadcaster had previously signalled its intention to skip Eurovision but waited for formal board approval.<\/p>\n

R\u00daV\u2019s full statement noted that KAN\u2019s involvement had been debated extensively at EBU gatherings in London over the summer and again in Geneva last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear from the public debate in this country and the reaction to last week\u2019s EBU decision that there will be neither joy nor peace regarding R\u00daV\u2019s participation in Eurovision,\u201d the broadcaster declared.<\/p>\n

The statement added Eurovision had always aimed to unify Icelanders, but that goal could no longer be met under current circumstances.<\/p>\n

\"Melody,<\/p>\n

Spain has also pulled out of Eurovision 2025<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

R\u00daV\u2019s director-general had already expressed reservations in Geneva, citing opposition from Icelandic artists\u2019 associations and the wider public to taking part while Israel remains in the contest.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s withdrawal decision followed weeks of debate, including a vote a fortnight ago in which directors narrowly recommended, by five votes to four, that the EBU should exclude Israel.<\/p>\n

Chairman Stef\u00e1n J\u00f3n Hafstein described the EBU\u2019s refusal to do so as \u201cdisappointing”.<\/p>\n

Iceland\u2019s culture minister, Logi Einarsson, publicly expressed his personal unease with competing but said he would not interfere with R\u00daV\u2019s editorial independence.<\/p>\n

\"Bambi<\/p>\n

Ireland will also not be competing this year<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, my gut feeling says no, but I am not going to interfere in the programming of R\u00daV. I would consider it unfortunate under these circumstances,\u201d Mr Einarsson said.<\/p>\n

The move has been praised by prominent cultural figures, including the Icelandic Composers and Lyricists Association and musician Bj\u00f6rk, who both backed a boycott. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the European Broadcasting Union confirmed that approximately 35 countries are still expected to compete in Austria despite multiple withdrawals.<\/p>\n

Responding to speculation that remaining participants may face increased fees, the EBU told Norway\u2019s NRK that broadcasters \u201cwill not pay more\u201d due to withdrawals. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm that no broadcaster will pay more to participate in next year\u2019s competition as a result of countries withdrawing,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n

The EBU acknowledged that a \u201csmall number\u201d of members may not take part but insisted the contest would go ahead with strong participation. <\/p>\n

Armenia remains the only nation yet to announce its decision.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/p>\n

Slovenia is one of the five nations boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest this year<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Iceland made its Eurovision debut in 1986 with \u201cGle\u00f0ibankinn\u201d and has competed 37 times without securing a win.<\/p>\n

The country has twice finished in second place: Selma Bj\u00f6rnsd\u00f3ttir with \u201cAll Out of Luck\u201d in 1999, earning 146 points, and Yohanna with \u201cIs It True\u201d in 2009, earning 218 points.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s contest in Basel, duo V\u00c6B represented Iceland with \u201cR\u00d3A\u201d, qualifying for the grand final but placing 25th with 33 televote points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iceland has officially pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, becoming the fifth nation to boycott the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[727,146,10495,85,46,409,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-178405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-celebrity","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-eurovision","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}