Even though Israel is not technically in Europe, the country has competed in the annual Eurovision Song Contest since 1973. Israel has won the contest four times, most recently in 2018. In recent years, Israel's ongoing campaign of Palestinian genocide has made its participation in Eurovision more and more untenable. After the European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision's governing body, announced that Israel would again participate in next year's context, four countries announced plans to boycott the contest in protest.
As The New York Times reports, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia have all announced plans to boycott next year's Eurovision, which will be held in Vienna in May. Spain's national broadcaster RTVE and Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ both issued statements condemning the decision to allow Israel's participation. The European Broadcasting Union refused to allow a vote on Israel's participation, even after decisions to exclude Russia and Belarus in recent years.
When Sweden hosted last year's Eurovision, more than 1,000 Swedish musicians signed an open letter demanding Israel's exclusion. Thousands protested outside the contest, and Irish contestant Bambie Thug was forced to remove a pro-Palestinian message from their costume. Last year's Israeli entrant was Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Oct. 7 attacks, and she came in second in the contest. If she'd won, this year's Eurovision would be happening in Israel, not Austria. Raphael won the fan vote, which caused a number of broadcasters to call for changes in the televote system.
