Ireland’s state broadcaster announced on Thursday that it would withdraw from Eurovision if Israel participate in Eurovision 2026. And the following morning the Dutch broadcaster followed suite.
In a strongly worded statement, AVROTROS said it “can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, giving the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza.”
We’re publishing the complete statement below.
The Netherlands will quit Eurovision 2026 if Israel participate (Press Release)
AVROTROS links participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest to core values
In recent months, AVROTROS has held regular consultations with the EBU and other European public broadcasters regarding the future and character of the Eurovision Song Contest. These discussions also extensively addressed the question of whether Israel can be represented under the current circumstances.
The Eurovision Song Contest was founded in 1956 to unite people after a period of deep division and war. Since its inception seventy years ago, music has been central to its unifying nature, with its core values of peace, equality, and respect.
AVROTROS can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza. Furthermore, the broadcaster expresses grave concern about the serious violation of press freedom: the deliberate exclusion of independent international reporting and the numerous casualties among journalists. Furthermore, there has been proven interference by the Israeli government during the last edition of the Song Contest, with the event being used as a political instrument. This contradicts the apolitical nature of the Song Contest. These circumstances conflict with the values that AVROTROS represents as a public broadcaster.
Therefore, the broadcaster has decided that AVROTROS’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will not be possible as long as Israel remains admitted by the EBU. If the EBU decides not to admit Israel, AVROTROS will be happy to participate next year. Pending that decision, all preparations are continuing as usual.
Finally … the dice are rolling and it cannot be stopped … what should already have happened this year will happen next year . ..
Unrelated, but does anyone know how to change the profile pictures on this site?
If you log in with your wordpress account, they will pick the avatar you have there
Smaller contests? Yay!!!!! Bring it have to one night only. None of the circus / forgotten songs. Just the good old fashioned Eurovision like the good old days!
The good old days you say? You mean those during which no countries outside of Europe was taking part? It’s a way to solve the problem I guess… although it would be sad for those countries that are not considered as part of Europe but don’t cause any harm to the contest.
Without propaganda songs and without buying votes please. THANK YOU
It’s going to be very interesting to see where this all goes and there are many possibilities. Also, isn’t there going to be a vote in December in which all member broadcasters of the EBU will vote on Israel’s participation? If voting intentions are announced or hinted at before and Israel feels the tide is against them then I can see them withdrawing before such a vote citing that they refuse to be a part of such a thing. If i’ve misunderstood and no such vote is taking place then I don’t expect Israel to withdraw or be kicked out… Read more »
There is absolutely 0 chance Israel withdraw themselves. They’d rather destroy Eurovision.
It’s those bullying countries that destroy Eurovision, not the bullied one!
How would Austria withdraw from a contest they are organizing? Doesn’t make sense…
I think everyone can agree EBU should cancel Israel’s participation, and I should participate instead (by choosing any former ESC participant and representing them in the following Eurovision), like every year one bonus country represented by amateur fan hahah We could even have our own national final, have some rules and whatnot, but, for the sake of paying respect to the father of this great idea (me) I should be chosen internally as the first participant hahaha
How good are you at singing and composing songs?
It’s so sad and devastating that the EBU is willing to allow a contest that has bought together so many countries every year for the last 70 years to crumble for the sake of one participating country. The way it’s going the only country left in the contest will be Israel.
No, it’s so sad and devastating that the EBU is willing to allow a contest that has bought together so many countries every year for the last 70 years to crumble for the sake of BULLYING countries that pretend to be bothered by politics but bring their own politics and prejudice to the competition. Even if the only country left in the contest will be Israel – that’s how it should be then.
Will you force other countries to participate, Maor? Every country can participate or not… As Portuguese, I already emailed my broadcast to not participate in eurovision if the genocide state is allowed to compete. I am sorry, but nobody wants to share our eurovision joy with your state.
close the door behind you .
Sad sad sad…Eurovision political contest…goodbye music welcome war
That is what was heavily happening since 2024 (despite the conflict started way earlier). The only fair is for Israel to be completely excluded, and it’s not about politics, it’s about common sense. Israel is a member of EBU but that was always for political reason only, no meter what some crazy fan might say. Israel isn’t in Europe, Israel isn’t participating for cultural enrichment and exchange of music. Israel is here to politically manipulate, and people have to end it’s participation, just like they did with Belarus and Russia, and just like they should do with Ukraine. They are/were… Read more »
It’s getting to a point where I wonder if there’ll even be a Eurovision next year. 6 or 7 countries threatening to pull out, but then if they kick Israel out the likes of Germany, UK and Italy will walk.
Thats ok for me
Germany and Austria … how many times can you be on the wrong side of history ?
Fair. It’s their choice
Excellent! Just need a Big Five to deepen this line in the sand.
these broadcasters dont seem to be trying to stop azerbaijan even though they are doing the exact same thing in Armenia commiting a genocide against the armenian people
another #Whataboutism.
Bullies will be bullies. This is not what Eurovision is about.
Bring them home, let us live.
Taking a moral stand against genocid@e is not bullying
100% agree
It’s time for broadcasters to work together and put as much pressure as needed to force EBU to take decisions.
So that is now seven countries who have said they would withdraw or consider withdrawing if Israel is not disqualified. As per usual, the EBU has gone radio silent.
Honestly this is good. The less countries participate the better as the EBU will be forced to make the semis smaller making them more competitive in the process. No more Estonia 2023 or Armenia2 2025 type qualifiers making it to the final and diluting the quality of the contest further. Thanks Ireland,Netherlands,Spain and Iceland you are saving Eurovision with your withdraw.
Eurovision 26 and maybe further beyond only could be saved if Israel withdraws by itself saving face and grace.
By denying an israeli entry for ESC26 by the EBU, the contest will be saved and finally released by the political constraint being put on since 2 years.
Of course there won’t be need for two semifinals then. Only one. Meaning loss of money for EBU and higher fee for the remaining participants to pay.
If they still insist of having two, that means only three countries will not make it..
But yeah, competetive indeed
Why should I care about how much cash the EBU makes? Just give me a good Eurovision with good music and show. Anyone who cares about how much EBU makes is a corporate shill.
There might still be two semi finals but they reduce how many countries qualify meaning a smaller final.
Babes u must have failed math class bad. The less countries in a semi, the less competitive it gets. If there are 13 countries and only 3 go that means every country has basically a 70-80 percent chance of qualifying. Ay ay yay
Considering Estonia 2023 a low quality entry says a lot about you and your knowledge about music. Thanks god juries were there in the final to give credit to a powerful performance. I won’t even answer to the rest of the comment.
I know it’s for other and much more important reasons, but after Israel’s horrible bullying of our Dutch delegation and press in 2024, it tastes like sweet revenge if they’ll be banned from the contest thanks in part to the Dutch broadcaster.
I think Joost should have gotten top 5. It is sad what happened to him.
Now to hope Sweden says something
I go to Eurovision every year, the last 2 years were absolutely horrible for all involved. The tension around the event and in the arena, the booing during Israel’s performance (not exactly great for atmosphere and feeling of togetherness), the (sometimes) intimidating presence of Mossad in the arena, the Israeli delegation kept completely separate from the others, the attitude of the Israeli delegation and press, protesters and police outside the venue, clashes between fans in the arena, the muting of the audience during performances, etc, etc. Maybe we are getting Eurovision back if EBU takes the right decision. Btw I… Read more »
So that’s 6 countries already out!!! Will EBU really let that one country to continue terrorizing everyone else just because they have money? Hope not! I am glad that more countries are stepping up and not bowing down to the corrupted EBU!
Who do you think will be the next one? I put my money on Belgium, then Norway, Spain or Denmark.
So exciting! Finally, I am proud to be an ESC fan again!
Israel have to be out now : I’d imagine, apart from the Big 5, that The Netherlands (along with Sweden) are one of the larger financial contributors to the contest and with Spain threatening to withdraw, I don’t think the EBU can afford not to have them!
I feel like only SVT can really shake EBU if they withdraw. That or 20 + country withdrawing, which I dont think it will happen
Are we reaching a point where it could very well become a one-day affair (last time was 2003)? Could there potentially be fewer participants than in the JUNIOR Eurovision Contest?
This is a huge fiasco in the making, one that will permanently damage the EBU.
I think Belgium will follow because there were rumours last year as well. For me they ruined it, when they involved their embassy’s and didn’t even get a yellow card, combined with the intimidation of Joost and other artists in 2024.
Israel is finally winning that trophy as they will be the only one left competing, and EBU is ready to hold that contest just to lick Israel’s ego just as always
This is needed news. Hopefully the momentum keeps building up.
Oh! It makes 5 countries now….so Ebu can already cancel one semi-final…
Eurovision as we all use to know since years is collapsing and it’s sad to see…
They need to apply the same approach to the Olympics, World Cup, and other major global events. And they should suspend all flights between the EU and Israel, just as was done with Russia. The only way to stop the genocide is to isolate that country and deny it a platform on the international stage. Allowing participation this year will only encourage further manipulation and vote-rigging.
Giving in to bullies is never a good idea. Let them go, the contest will be better without participants who politicise it. The last two years were enough.
Never the understood the species of people that feel good just keeping on with what they are doing no matter if the world around them is burning and injustice occurs. I find them possibly even worse than those that actively and ideologically support mayhem. In which of these two despicable categories do you belong in?
Israël is using Eurovision as a political tool. I agree: the last 2 years were enough!
Justice will prevail, so mark my words: Israel will NOT be in ESC 2026. No amount of Moroccanoil will prevent that from happening.
Any country that blatently violates international law has no place in an event that was founded to promote peace, tolerance and humanity.
The participant who politicises the contest is precisely the country you are defending. The bully is Israel, not the Netherlands.
Not giving in to bullies is indeed exactly the reason that the Netherlands chose to withdraw.
AVOTROS hit the nail on the head with their press statement, apart from the obvious Israel is also attacking journalists, suppressing the press freedom and has been guilty of political interference by trying to influence the voting. All reasons why EBU should’ve banned them by now. It’s like MorroccanOil has them in a choke hold. I won’t believe they can’t find another big sponsor.
Of course they could find another big sponsor, which is exactly why your conspiracy theory on MoroccanOil is rubbish. MoroccanOil has nothing to do with it, the decision is up to the EBU. As long as KAN is an active member, they can participate, and there doesn’t seem to be any broad support for suspending them.
When Europe works together it’s such a beautiful thing.
love this energy. Keep it up
Like Joost said in the beginning or his song (Europe let come together )
This is huge. They are insane is they ignore a country like The Netherlands. Are they really gonna let a founding country of Eurovision go in favor of a regime with an ongoing genocide? Eurovision would never recover. Even the cost of Germany exiting would be less dramatic at this point. Are we really gonna go through with hosting a Eurovision without crucial parts of Europe? And for what?
A prelude to a death kiss for Israel in the contest. They are still living in La-La-Land believing this is all just hot air, but they’ll get the picture only in December. They won’t give anyone the satisfaction of withdrawing before contesting every article on the EBU charter.
Now EBU needs to choose :
basic humanity plus the survival of our beloved contest vs participation of a genoc1dal state that only uses the contest for blatant propaganda
These countries are lining up now. The EBU are backed into a corner and now need to get off the fence and make a decision. Like others have suggested, I reckon Israel will withdraw before a decision is made to ‘save face’.
They wont withdraw cause they refuse to acknowledge..
Only EBU banning will solve this!
Each country trying to grab a headline while virtue signaling for votes. How about bringing them all back home instead?
Ok
The momentum is finally underway.
The inevitable is becoming unstoppable
The only thing I hope for now is that this process doesn’t get dragged out until the meeting in December. This has to be sorted positively now, not in 3 months time. Otherwise, the damage done to the institution that is the ESC maybe irreparable
I expect a cascade of announcements of national broadcasters that they will do the same any time soon now following Slovenia, Ireland and The Netherlands.
The Netherlands is allegedly the 6th net contributor after the Big5 countries.
With Spain’s threat to withdraw the contest now is in serious financial peril and let’s hope Maroccanoil won’t account for the loss of contribution fees from the withdrawing nations. Then EBU can’t do nothing but to expel Israel
‘AVROTROS said it can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza.’ Oh, how noble.., but i wonder, what kind of ‘justification meter’ do these countries use to measure ‘human suffering’, and why did the agony of the Armenians of Artsakh never register on their scale? For those unaware: dictatorial Azerbaijan – a ‘reliable partner’ of the EU thanks to oil and gas – terrorized the Armenian-populated Republic of Artsakh between 2020 and 2023, (btw. with Israel’s help), until they succeeded in expelling the entire Armenian population from their millennia-old… Read more »
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/armenia-azerbaijan-peace-for-a-longstanding-conflict/
Peace deal was signed a few weeks ago.
Frisian here, I’m still on the frisian provincial border. No need for fictional scenarios to kick us out.
Whataboutism.
It’s not the only reason it’s one of the reason’s.
Maybe the fact that Israel chased away over 750,000 Palestianians from their centuries-old homeland and destroyed 400+ villages in 1948? Or that Israel killed roughly 134,000 Palestians ever since ?
Israel armed Azerbaijan.
A ban of Israel is really a necessary development to save future of the contest. I think it will take a long time for Israel and Russia to gain European trust again.
Sweet. Looking at how Israel does it’s PR (poor us), they’ll withdraw before they’re removed. There’s better ‘spin-ability’ with that option. Good on ya Netherlands. Belgium next?
*its PR (grammar is everything)
Yes I think Belgium will follow, the Flemish broadcaster often works closely together with the Dutch ones.
Way too late, but happy my country finally is taking this step!
It’s unfortunately better than never, seeing how my country would most likely never put such a statement (France) and worst I fear Germany would go the other way around and be like: “if Israel is excluded, we won’t participate”. So really I’m grateful for the Netherlands to do something like this on this subject but also how after Joost’s incident they called out the BS of EBU and at least obtained better protection for the artists this year.
I could not agree more!
@Yoo98 dey should not b withdrawing!