4 countries to boycott Eurovision due to Israel’s continued inclusion

[Everexpanding]

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, the Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said it would also withdraw from next year’s contest. “After weighing all perspectives, Avrotros concludes that, under the current circumstances, participation cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation.”

The Slovenian national broadcaster, RTVSLO – the first to threaten a boycott this summer – said participation “would conflict with its values of peace, equality and respect”.

Spain’s culture minister, Ernest Urtasun, backed the decision, adding: “You can’t whitewash Israel given the genocide in Gaza. Culture should be on the side of peace and justice. I’m proud of an RTVE that puts human rights before any economic interest

RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/dec/04/ireland-spain-and-the-netherlands-to-boycott-eurovision-2026-as-israel-cleared-to-compete

We can't all be as perfect as @thingsarelookingupfornigel 😉

Though you did have to delete your own post earlier Nigel so tbh, we all make mistakes.

Yep. And as I recall, one of the people who got told off for misspelling Israel mentioned she had dyslexia.

And I asked for it to be deleted. Didn’t know that was a crime. At least I know when to withdraw a comment.

Just an observation that we all make mistakes.

I don't regret any of the comments I made about Albanese, she is an awful person in my opinion. Though getting into that would be a huge derailment and as you said (though it got deleted) I do like to stick to the topic so won't be getting into a big discussion about her on this thread which is about Eurovision.

I’m not going to waste my time.

I find Francesca Albanese absolutely inspirational, so brave and dedicated. The sanctions applied to her in an attempt to silence her are really appalling and set a very bad precedent

I can’t see how this could remotely be seen as derailing as Albanese has spoken out so strongly about the power of boycotting in general.

Finally - glad Eurovision is back to being truly political. Every country must boycott!

Albanese is amazing. She has given up so much personally and yet she carries on fighting.

She’s the kind of person who would fight for any oppressed group regardless of who they were.

what a crock. Eurovision is a song contest and shouldn't ever be political.

In what way did she stand up for the hostages and victims of Hamas's genocidal attack on Israel?

I agree. Rare integrity. If there were a complete role reversal and Palestine were the hegemonic entity, I believe she would do her job as she is doing it now.

I wonder if you know what hegemony means.

To go back to the thread, I also believe that boycotting can be powerful and arts and sports should not be exempt.

Hopefully now these 5 countries that feel the strongest about Israel performing have removed themselves, Eurovision 2026 can be conducted in the peaceful & cheerful spirit of the competition.

In 2024 the Israeli representative received death threats & was booed as she sang. Last year's singer Yuval Raphael was also booed as she sang, despite being a survivor of Hamas's October 7th attacks and still having shrapnel in her leg from the incident.

A crew member was hit with paint after two pro Palestinian protestors tried to rush on stage to disrupt Ms Raphael's performance. Even during her rehearsal for the semi-final, pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted her act with oversized flags and whistles.

Ms Raphael, who had practiced performing while being booed, said she was trying not to deal with those who say her country shouldn't be competing. "Everybody has opinions," she said. "I'm really putting everything aside and just concentrating on the most important thing. The slogan this year is 'united by music' and that's what we are here for."

It was horrific wasn't it? What an amazing, brave young woman. As I said early on, good riddance to those who are boycotting. Im sure the contest will be a happier place without them.

Not sure why my commment about BelleHathor knowing about sinister twitter accounts were deleted, she posts them all the time.

Posting links to antisemitic twitter accounts? Fine. Pointing out those accountd are antisemitic? Not fine.

I understand your frustration but imagine it was deleted because the comment could be perceived as a personal attack. You have to be very careful what you say on MN because people can be as offensive as they want in their opinions etc, but comments against a person do tend to get deleted if reported.

Absolutely she is a brave young woman and was participating with a peaceful agenda but some people couldn't separate the artist from their views about the country she represented, and still can't apparently.

It's the 70th edition of Eurovision in 2026, wouldn't it be lovely if all the artists could be treated respectfully next year? That would be a success in my eyes regardless of who actually wins.

Just kill this lame sad shitshow off and be done with it