On Thursday, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) began its 94th General Assembly. One of the big topics of discussion was the influence of global politics on the Eurovision Song Contest, in particular Israel’s participation.
The nation’s ongoing presence at the contest has been the centre of much debate and protest for the past two years following its actions in Gaza, where more than 55,000 people have been killed since October 2023.
Multiple international organisations have accused Israel of committing war crimes and acts of genocide during the fighting, which began after Hamas carried out an attack in southern Israel.
During the General Assembly, broadcasters of those countries competing in Eurovision were able to express their views amidst a private discussion. Some have previously made their position known publicly.
Following a “constructive exchange of views,” the EBU has now indicated it intends to analyse how participation is managed amidst geopolitical tensions. An investigation will be led by an unnamed former senior TV executive, who will present their findings in autumn, ahead of the next General Assembly in December.
EBU statement following 94th General Assembly
Below is the EBU’s statement in full.
“At today’s EBU General Assembly, Members held an open and constructive discussion on the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) and the increasingly complex global context in which it takes place.
“The Assembly was a chance to celebrate the success of ESC 2025 – not just in terms of its record-breaking reach and engagement but in terms of its cultural resonance and ability to foster inclusivity, creativity, and a sense of belonging on a world stage.
“But of course, despite its extraordinary success, the Eurovision Song Contest, like many other events, is not immune to the pressures of global politics. Questions around participation have become increasingly sensitive and multifaceted, and our Members hold a wide range of perspectives on these issues, which they were able to express in detail today.
“Members had a constructive exchange of views. There was a shared understanding that this is an unprecedentedly complex situation and there is a wide diversity of opinions. Members also expressed their support for the work of the Israeli public broadcaster Kan and its independence, noting the pressure it is repeatedly experiencing from the Israeli government.
“To help us navigate the current landscape, a former senior TV executive has now been invited to lead a structured and in-depth dialogue with our Member broadcasters in the coming weeks.
“They will engage with Directors General and other stakeholders to gather insights on how we manage participation, geopolitical tensions, and how other organizations have approached similar challenges. They will report back with recommendations this autumn.
“The EBU remains committed to transparency and will continue to keep Members informed of developments in the months ahead.”
“If war continues, Israel will have a hard time staying” — sources tell Israeli media
Whilst the EBU’s statement avoids giving any detail on the discussions themselves, Israeli outlet Ynet has reported information from sources it claims to have within the General Assembly.
They state the discussion on Israel’s inclusion lasted around 90 minutes.
Ayala Mizrahi represented Israeli broadcaster Kan and noted the country’s long-standing appearance in the contest, having debuted in 1973.
Ynet reports that the only countries to show support for Israel’s participation were Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Meanwhile, Iceland and Slovenia were the two countries most outspoken against Israel’s ongoing presence.
In the end, a vote on Israel’s participation did not take place. This is reportedly in part due to the UK representative from the BBC, who asked to abstain from a vote and suggested that conversations on the matter continue over the coming weeks.
However, Ynet’s sources also report that, had a vote taken place, the majority of broadcasters would likely have not sided in Israel’s favour: “If the war continues, Israel will have a hard time staying because many countries are against it.”
RTVE: “Israel’s participation has had a negative impact on the festival’s development”
Following Thursday’s General Assembly, RTVE issued its own statement and shared the position that the Spanish broadcaster put forward during discussions.
“On the first day of the 94th EBU General Assembly held today, RTVE called for a debate on Israel’s presence in the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Other countries also echoed Spain’s request.
“The Corporation’s Secretary General, Alfonso Morales, was the first to speak at the meeting and was responsible for conveying the Corporation’s position. RTVE has formally requested a ‘serious and in-depth’ debate within the EBU regarding Israel’s participation in the music festival. The Corporation has emphasised the need for the EBU to find a solution before the next General Assembly, to be held in December, after observing that Israel’s participation has had a negative impact on the festival’s development, shifting the focus to political issues rather than the cultural, artistic, or musical aspects that are at the heart of the event.
“Furthermore, RTVE considers it essential to review the voting system to minimize the impact of sympathetic votes resulting from war or armed conflicts.”
Treat Israel like the former Yugoslavia. It took Serbia and Montenegro 12 years to return after its aggression and perpetration of war crimes and atrocities leading up to the death of nearly 250,000 people (including Serbs). NOT implying those conflicts are in any way similar in their dynamics, root causes and foreign intervention, but Israel does need to get a suspension at least for one year. I am more convinced about it than I was a few months ago.
Just let every EBU broadcaster vote yes or no and respect the results.
They’re afraid if the outcome, otherwise they would have. They know they would majority vote in favour
Rule should be easy. Any country going under war should not be allowed to participate. That would eliminate any pity votes.
The probability of Israeli disqualification is as high as San Marino winning next Eurovision with Morocco and Russia being in the top 3. Its all a PR game
I hope Israel will stay in Eurovision. I loved their songs and stagings of the last 3 years. Unique and all three tell a beautiful story, of hope and resilience.
Many Eurovision songs are just interchangeable pop songs.
I like when Eurovision songs tell a story about the people.
Like Kladvia , Greece this year as well.
Funny you say that when Israel songs are all interchangable. Replace them with any singer from any country and you will get same song. It’s Idol winning songs
They should stay because YOU like their songs not the crimes they’re committing.
So shallow …. So narcissistic….
Facepalm
All three had really cliché English lyrics that didn’t make much sense when put together. Two songs were written by the same person, with the most recent song having two verses that were literal translations of each other in English and French. Those last two scream “please feel bad about us, we promise we have it very hard.”
Jeez… even if you put political issues aside it is 100% clear that Israel managed to cheat for the last 2 years. You just can’t be there saying “look, Europe loves us and put us 1st” when in reality their songs are completely crashing in the charts. This should be enough for EBU to ban them…
Sympathy votes are not cheating. Did Ukraine cheat in 2022? No, of course not, it’s not reasonable to expect them to somehow stop people from voting for their entry.
I’m very much against Israel in all this, but the public opinion against them is so strong that their songs are bound to crash in the charts. Any song at this moment, if it came from Russia or Israel, would crash in the charts. Does it mean that these countries are suddenly unable to produce quality music? I’m saying all this just to point out the flaw in the reasoning above.
Eurovision night is about the emotions of the moment.
Eurovision has never been about charts and radio friendly songs. There are 364 other days for that.
Yuval’s performance was wonderful. A historical moment with a message, and that’s what people vote for.
How deluded are you? Did you not follow what they did to get votes?
I 50% agree with you. Yes, the scores are impacted a lot by the emotions of the moment, that’s also what makes Eurovision beautiful. But let’s not pretend that it is normal to finish 1st with the televote and do absolutely nothing in the charts. It never happened before and I don’t see why we would search for excuses now. All the contestants that won the televotes for the last decade were in the top charting songs of Eurovision at least for a few weeks. This year Yuval’s song was immediatly out of Eurovision 2025 top 10 charting songs across… Read more »
Every top 5 of the 2010s and 2020s televote did well in charts after Eurovision. Azerbaijan 2011, Azerbaijan 2013, Israel 2024 and Israel 2025 are the only exceptions.
The winner always charts even if it’s “never been about charts” they always do, or recently go viral. To think it got the huge televote number and didn’t chart is shady af.
Cmon now, I know you’re not THAT naive.
they did not cheat the ebu should not ban them!
How does the saying go? “We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong”?
But we have all agreed we must be mindful of others and strive to be our best selves. . .
What really made an impact, was broadcaster boycotting the 1970 edition, because of dissatisfaction with the voting system and the resukts of 1969. But who would dare to pull out? Certainly none of the Big 5, neither Sweden, Ukraine , Poland or other countries with big music markets. Believe me, no one will notice Slovenia is missing, if they really pull out.
Eurovision leaves no mark in any yearbook whatsoever, unless you have an exceptionally successful winning song. Nobody outside the fan bubble will remember Eden and the likes. And nobody will notice your support or rage… or that of the others. So, we can discuss this Israel‘s participation until the last day on earth, but ultimately, it will neither end this war nor any injustice. Please, focus on forms of protest that actually make an impact. If you really want to have an apolitical, fully equal or „objective“ competition, than that’s not Eurovision. It has always been political and subjective and… Read more »
When a statement includes the words “stakeholder” and “going forward”, you know it’s meaningless.
“Members also expressed their support for the work of the Israeli public broadcaster Kan and its independence, noting the pressure it is repeatedly experiencing from the Israeli government.”
Pressure to do what exactly?
Serve as a propaganda outlet, presumably
Israeli government has been unhappy with KAN’s independence for a long time and there’s a lot of pressure on them, including many attempts to suppress their “autonomy”.
We all know why Germany and Austria want them to stay.
Thankfully, it’s not the rest of our guilt to carry and we can apply logic and humanity to the discussion.
You can add France, Italy, Poland, Czechia, Greece, Cyprus and Azerbaijan to the list oft Israel´s supporters among the EBU members.
Against are lceland, Ireland. Norway, Finland, Slovenia and Spain. That´s not the mayority to ban Israel from the competition
If you look closely it’s not guilt, but weaponizing it into state loyal pride to justify attrocities for interest.
I’ve a feeling they’re going to let them in.
They’re delaying it as much as they can in the hopes we all forget about them. Didn’t take this long to get rid of Russia.
We must continue to pressure them.
It seems that the EBU are playing games.
Get Israel out NOW!!!! Enough of this.
what is the problem with Israels participation?
Besides the daily war crimes?
They’ve been cheating.
EBU hold no such power of whether or not KAN will survive. Let’s be realistic. Only The Supreme Court of Israel does. Considering KAN’s shocking behaviour in the 2024 Eurovision, that led to the delegation being banned from any participation with other artists in the 2025 Eurovision, the broadcaster clearly do not see EBU as a tool of survival. That the broadcaster now realises it has pissed off far too many colleagues, after yet another shocking participation in 2025, where they knowingly and willingly participated in acts of bending the rules for participation, again,is not a good reason for why… Read more »
“EBU to analyse how Eurovision participation is managed amidst “geopolitical tensions” following General Assembly discussion on Israel” = “EBU to analyse how to make the other countries stop complaining about Israel’s participation”
What most likely will happen is nothing. EBU will probably say ” we have a vote after the 2026 contest. And then in May Israel wins effectively stopping a vote since they can’t ban the winning country
That’s pretty out there. No, there are enough people who will argue and do something to not delay the vote
And when has EBU ever listened to those people?
Just watch
Is the last line a dig at Ukraine!
I’m (NOT) Shocked BBC steped in to prevent Israel’s exclusion
Last time the BBC was reported about in any controversy it was the Kant fuss. It was taken way out of context and based on a single person just saying it was them. Maybe we should wait for more reports before jumping to conclusions…
Long story short, they’ll be back next year, the majority (myself included) will be against it, no one will boycott it (because complaining is easier, and being complicit is free of charge).
The televote 0 points to Switzerland this year and even worse the crooked first place in the televote finally changed me forever. I will never care what the so called popular vote says again. It has become complete BS. What the the hell is the to analyze at this point? Do something.
Agree completely Ari, we shouldn’t have a system which returns a >200 point difference between the jury and televote. Though I get the feeling the EBU and Bjorkman want these moments so they can get their presenters to bleat “anything can happen”. It’s a song contest, not an episode of Stingray.
Last year, Eden Golan really deserved her disqualification prior to the final and would’ve been mentioned ”There will be NO song in position number 6” after filming some stuff illegally, abuse, harassment and unfairly treated many other participants who lost their joy for their Eurovision experience.
TL;DR–> Nothing is going to happen.
This will be downvoted to hell by people who can’t engage in anything without feeling some kind of overwhelming political conviction, but there’s thousands and thousands of people in said country who have nothing to do with the tensions who deserve to be involved, entertained and take part in the contest, just like we do. I thought Eurovision was meant to elevate itself from conflicts and politics? That’s what Eurovision is about, surely? Its motto is quite literally to stand United by Music, in the face of conflict. Am I missing something here?
We all know what needs to happen but the organizers are willing to let the contest crash and burn before they do that.
Two years in a row the government itself has organized a multimillion euro voting campaign. Both Eden and Yuval participated willingly in those videos. They’ve also met with the government officials before and after the contest. Israel and KAN have no intention of separating their songs from politics.
It comes to a point where even if what you are saying is true, the actions of the government of the participating country puts the contest into disrepute anyway. It’s just better for all parties for that country to be removed.
IDK, just public perceptions and whatnot
A genocide perhaps ? Dozens to 100s of starving people people murdered daily trying to get food , perhaps ? That is Not politics it’s a question of basic existence
There’s thousands of people in Russia too that have nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine.
There was thousands of people in N @z1 Germany during WW2 who had nothing to do with it either?
What’s your point? KAN is the public broadcaster, ie, funded by tax payers, collected by the government, the same government committing the war crimes.
So what’s your point?
Fully proud of the countries standing against Israel’s participation. Fully disgusted by those countries who support its participation. And deeply ashamed of my country’s Greece’s stance in support of Israel in all domains.
Change needs to happen in many ways but to start it off and since it concerns us all in this space : Ban Israel from Eurovision!
German (mus.lim) here, we disagree too
We should kick out Israel and let Palstne and Irn participate. It’s the least we can do to support those hurt people in need.
You know what those 2 you listed do to our community right?
@basturbro
You know Israel doesn’t allow gay marriage right? You know gays in Jerusalem have been attacked right?
You know there’s gay people in Iran and Palestine too right?
You know letting those two participate won’t happen because a) they’re outside the EBU broadcasting area right? B) their broadcasters aren’t members, right?
You know allowing them to parrot and integrate with the rest of us musically could open them up to liberalism and thus rights for our community right?
Pinkwashing.
I don’t think they have a broadcaster that’s part of the EBU or associated with it
Ir4n isn’t even an EBU member tho
Idk if there are eligible broadcasters in those countries. But I know the one year Morocco participated, was the year Israel withdrew because Eurovision had been scheduled for a holiday there. They might come back if Israel is banned. Countries like Egypt, Algeria, and Jordan are eligible but have never participated and have a similarly tense relationship with Israel. Aotearoa (New Zealand) has been eyeing participation, but not gotten an invite. Kasakstan has only ever participated in Junior Eurovision, but is presumably eligible. If enough countries like those committed to participating, they could offset the financial impact of Israel being… Read more »
Well, at least something happened, but I know the comments are going to be raging. Let me get my popcorn kernels ready for the heat that’s about to come
OK, why is this getting downvoted, what do you want me to do, complain my butt off like Daren2 or Ari or Thanos ? No thanks, I’d rather use cold anger than hot anger to get a solution
Perhaps because your comment didn’t land as intended. Seems quite flippant, that you’re just here for the drama and nothing actually productive.
And it’s Darren2*
I just want the drama to end, it should be easy to fix, but it’s so annoying not being able to do anything about it 🙁
Just have to keep being optimistic that healthy decisions will be made, that’s the only thing I can do at this point
We all do, hence why we are angry about this. There’s a simple end to this, remove Israel from competing in this.
But the EBU is dragging their heels and really doesn’t want to, so we must continue to apply pressure. They say they want ESC to stay apolitical but they are the very ones making it political by keeping this going as long as it has.
This could have been sorted before the 2024 contest but nope, it’s been allowed to fester on the EBUs watch and that’s shameful