The Israeli broadcaster KAN has released a statement following the announcement of a vote among EBU members on its participation in Eurovision 2026.
The Israeli broadcaster KAN has released a statement following the publication of a letter from the President of the EBU, Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, confirming that a vote on Israeli broadcaster KAN’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in November.
The statement from KAN reads:
Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, expresses its firm hope that the Eurovision Song Contest will continue to uphold its cultural and non-political identity.
The potential disqualification of Israel’s public broadcaster KAN – one of the contest’s long-standing, popular, and successful participants – would be especially troubling ahead of the 70th edition of the song contest, which was founded as a symbol of unity, solidarity, and fellowship. Any such move could have wide-ranging implications for the competition and the values for which the EBU stands.
The EBU Statutes stipulate for a good reason that extraordinary decisions of this kind require a 75% majority of the General Assembly – an exceptional majority. We are confident that the EBU will safeguard the contest’s professional, cultural, and non-political character as it marks the historic 70 years milstone of uniting by music.
There has been significant debate regarding the Eurovision Song Contest and how it functions as well as whether Israel should be allowed to compete in the contest. Following the conclusion of the 2025 contest on May 17, several broadcasters contacted the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to request details of voting numbers.
RTVE (Spain), VRT (Belgium), RÚV (Iceland), Yle (Finland), and RTÉ (Ireland) all raised questions regarding the voting at the contest. AVROTROS and NPO in the Netherlands also raised queries regarding the current state of the Eurovision Song Contest.
On May 23, the Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, released an open letter regarding Eurovision 2025. In the letter, he outlined that the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group will review the voting data during June. In addition, they will review the promotion of our participants by their delegations and associated parties and discuss whether the public vote should continue to allow up to 20 votes to be cast.
In July at the EBU General Assembly in London, the matter of Israeli participation was raised with a number of members sharing their views on the matter. Since late August, RTVSLO (Slovenia), RTÉ (Ireland), AVROTROS (Netherlands) and RTVE (Spain) have all stated that they would not compete if Israel takes part in the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, while RÚV (Iceland) has stated it may withdraw.
Image source: Alma Bengtsson / EBU | Source: KAN
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Posted by:Eurovoix Team
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