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

But the constant claims of anti semitism regarding warranted criticism of Israel does this, I actually think it is very dangerous

I won't take lectures on antisemitism from someone who invokes the Livingstone formulation.

@SharonEllis as I have said before and as I can say with very good conscience there is not an anti semitic bone in my body.

I am very opposed to the actions of Israel and the Idf, a different thing altogether

There's no such thing as an antisemitic bone.

?

That was unexpected 😂

I googled it

The phrase "antisemite bone" refers to a modern idiomatic expression regarding inherent prejudice

Idiomatic Expression
The phrase "not an antisemitic bone in [one's] body" is an idiom used to declare that a person is completely free of antisemitic prejudice.
The user may be referencing actor John Cusack's 2019 apology, in which he used this exact phrase while retracting a shared "harmful" image that deployed anti-Jewish stereotypes.
Similarly, the phrase "bred in the bone" can be used to describe antisemitism as an inherent or deeply ingrained aspect of a specific ideology

Fairly common phrase in my family, didn’t know about John Cusack, I looked for a definition for Sharon got this

not a — bone in your body
not the slightest trace of the specified quality.

Yes I think we have all heard the phrase. The point is its completely meaningless particularly in reference to oneself. Very few people are in a position to say they are without prejudice.

Why such a bizarre response then?

Really confused by this recent angle

first there’s no such thing as a standard phrase and now everyone’s heard of it
how does that work ?!?!

oh I see now ……it’s Aparently meaningless to this situation….

again
It is
Of course it is
@Everexpanding used the term exactly as it’s intended

Sometimes it’s just fine to just not know stuff and even better to admit the mistake.

So Wierd how threads go sometimes

should have tagged but forgot who to 😂

Everexpanding used an idiom well known across the English speaking world.

Perhaps it's just another distraction technique, similar to the repeated accusations of antisemitism with no evidence. It wastes a persons time defending "their honour" and trying to decipher circular nonsensical arguments.

Everexpanding ignore the accusations coming from a side that awarded kids presenter Ms Rachel antisemite of the year for daring to have empathy with Palestinian children.

"a side"? Is this a fucking football game to you?

Obviously
There are those that support Israel’s actions and those that don’t.
There are those that support the right to boycott and those that don’t

So yes….sides

But the poster was making assumptions about people posting on this thread and making completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated ljnks to other people. I have nothing to do with awarding Ms Rachel 'antisemite if the year', I know fuck all about her. But apparently I am on the same side as the people who made the award, people I also have no links to. Anyone with any intelligence does not fit neatly into one of only 2 tribes. Anyone who thinks this has certainly spent no time on the Jewish 'side' where there is rich & dynamic diversity of thought.

The posters response referred to this not being a taking sides issue though

not the more nuanced thoughts you have made about unknown individual posters

No idea what you're talking about. I know exactly which poster I was referring to.

So now the dust has settled we know that 5 countries are boycotting Eurovision and 35 are attending.

The ones taking part are Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The funny thing is that despite the change to the rules, Israel will probably still get the most fan votes. People don't like bullies and as with last year, this will be another opportunity to stand up to them.

Yes indeed it will be a chance to stand up to bullies and vote manipulators

Bullies ?

Why?

Last year's Israel contestant was bullied despite being a survivor from 7/10.

Will be interesting to see if the contestant for 2026 is bullied too. It may help that those 5 countries will not be attending.

Anyway, will be interesting to see how Israel fares in 2026. My expectation is that they will do very well with the public votes especially given the sympathy most people feel towards the rise in antisemitism. The latest example being the attack in Australia, of course.

Just interesting you use that word bullying when 16 countries filed complaints against the Israeli delegation in 2024 which was upheld by EBU accusing them of "intrusive, offensive, and provocative behaviour" so much they had to be moved to a separate area.

So perhaps people should look beyond what they would like to be the truth.

So you don't think the contestant in 2025 was bullied - really?

No sympathy expressed for her or for the victims of the Australian attack either I note. Aren't their experiences "the truth"?

Maybe we can return to this conversation after the 2026 Eurovision when we know the results of the public vote. That will give some indication if I'm right or wrong in saying people don't like bullies and this will be another opportunity to stand up to them.

I think that it's a foregone conclusion that Israel will win?! Every pro Israel head out there will vote x10 for them, people who don't fancy supporting Israel their vote will be split between the other how ever many contestants. It's used by pro Israel heads as propaganda, look look how much people like Israel, they won, they wouldn't have won if people thought they were committing genocide, blah blah blah. People who didn't even watch it were voting x20 times last year for Israel if they are to be believed. It's a bit crazy that they didn't win then tbh with the massive ad campaign funded by Israeli government agencies. I'm so glad Ireland are out of it, the whole thing has become grotesque.