Salih Okuroglu, Lejla Biogradlija and Muhammet Ikbal Arslan<\/p>\n
17 May 2026\u2022Update: 17 May 2026<\/p>\n
Bulgaria won the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday as the competition in Austria was overshadowed by protests, boycotts and demonstrations linked to Israel\u2019s participation amid the war in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
The final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest was held at Vienna\u2019s Wiener Stadthalle arena, where Bulgarian singer Dara secured first place with the song “Bangaranga,” earning 516 points from juries and viewers.<\/p>\n
Israel finished second with 343 points, while Romania placed third with 296 points.<\/p>\n
Five countries — Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Iceland and Ireland — boycotted the competition in protest against Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n
Israeli contestant Noam Bettan, who performed third during the final, was met with protests inside the arena as audience members waved Palestinian flags during the performance. Booing was also heard when Israel\u2019s public vote results were announced.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard criticized Israel\u2019s participation during the broadcast, writing on social media that \u201cthere should be no stage for Israel at Eurovision while there is an ongoing genocide, unlawful occupation and apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Protests in Vienna<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at Christian Broda Square in Vienna and marched toward the Wiener Stadthalle venue, hours before the final.<\/p>\n
Protesters carried banners that read: \u201cDon’t celebrate genocide\u201d and \u201cIsrael, killer of children and people,\u201d while chanting slogans, including \u201cBoycott Israel\u201d and \u201cNo stage for genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
International activists, artists and civil society representatives urged the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to exclude Israel from the contest and urged countries, including Austria, to end political, economic and military cooperation with Israel.<\/p>\n
A separate concert, \u201cSong Protest \u2013 No Stage for Genocide,\u201d was held Friday at Vienna\u2019s Maria-Theresien Square, bringing together international artists and activists expressing solidarity with Palestinians and criticizing the EBU\u2019s stance on Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n
During the first semifinal on May 12, Bettan also faced protests from the audience, who chanted, \u201cStop the genocide,\u201d and displayed Palestinian flags. Some protesters wearing \u201cFree Palestine\u201d slogans were removed from the venue by security personnel.<\/p>\n
Broadcasters voice criticism<\/p>\n
Spanish public broadcaster RTVE aired a message supporting \u201cpeace and justice for Palestine\u201d at the start of the broadcast, temporarily blacking out its screen to display the message in Spanish and English.<\/p>\n
Belgium\u2019s Flemish public broadcaster VRT also warned it may reconsider future participation unless the EBU changes its policies on countries taking part in Eurovision.<\/p>\n
Viewership declines<\/p>\n
The contest also saw lower television ratings in several countries amid boycott calls and criticism surrounding Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n
In Italy, 1.87 million viewers watched the first semifinal on public broadcaster RAI, down from 2.489 million last year.<\/p>\n
In the Netherlands, viewership for the semifinal dropped 42% compared to 2025, making it the country\u2019s least-watched Eurovision semifinal since 2012.<\/p>\n
Audience figures also declined compared to last year in the UK, Sweden and Belgium, according to the reported viewing data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Salih Okuroglu, Lejla Biogradlija and Muhammet Ikbal Arslan 17 May 2026\u2022Update: 17 May 2026 Bulgaria won the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43,180804],"class_list":["post-445641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-sitekeywords"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445641","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=445641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}