Eurovision rule changes threaten Israel’s chances at success amid boycotts

CULTURAL AFFAIRS: Iceland joins a growing list of countries boycotting Eurovision 2026 due to Israel’s participation, as new voting rules create challenges for Israel’s success.

On Wednesday, Iceland announced that it would be joining four other countries – Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Ireland – in boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest in 2026 because of Israel’s participation, a move that surprised no one, given that country’s frequent condemnation of Israel and because there has been such a huge push in the past year from European countries to boot Israel.

Iceland’s announcement followed a meeting of Eurovision’s governing body late last week that showed that there was enough support for Israel to continue to participate, if rule changes were adopted going forward, and it was decided that there would be no formal, public vote on the issue. Of the 1,122 votes cast in a secret ballot, 738 voted to adopt the rule changes and not go ahead with a vote on ejecting Israel, while 264 voted against this, and 120 abstained, according to a report on the Eurovision news website, Wiwibloggs.

Should we be cheered by this news, or upset that the issue was on the table at all? The situation is a classic glass-half-empty/glass-half-full situation.

The half-full side, obviously, is that Israel will be taking the stage in Vienna in May, as it has participated in Eurovision since 1973.

But there’s definitely a different way to look at it. Israel has been singled out as no country ever has been before, and in that meeting, a set of rule changes was put into place that were tailored to stop Israel from succeeding as it has in the past.

While the countries that oppose Israel’s participation talk about the war in Gaza and accuse Israel of committing “genocide,” these countries were completely silent when Britain took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and when several Eurovision countries took part in the war against ISIS. Fighting wars is fine, apparently, unless it is Israel doing the fighting, an attitude many have criticized as antisemitism dressed up as anti-Zionism.

In the 2025 song contest, Supernova music festival massacre survivor Yuval Raphael gave a transcendent performance singing “New Day Will Rise,” a song that referred to healing after trauma. Her performance moved millions among the public who watched the competition live, and she won first place in the popular vote, coming in second overall.

The previous year, Eden Golan sang “Hurricane,” a song that has lyrics mourning the Oct. 7 massacre in not very veiled terms, and she finished second in the popular vote and fifth overall.

In 2023, before the Israel-Hamas War broke out, Noa Kirel sang “Unicorn,” an apolitical pop tune, and placed third.

Would the countries that announced they would boycott Eurovision because of Israel’s participation – and others, such as Finland, that may soon follow suit – have demanded to boot Israel, had the country not done so well in the song contest over the past few years, proving indisputably that the public does not share the anti-Israel sentiments of some countries’ public broadcasters and governments? It’s hard to know. I suspect that there would have been calls to eject Israel no matter how well or poorly its performers fared, but perhaps they would not have been as loud.

Here’s where the glass really starts to empty out: Following Raphael’s triumphant win in the popular vote in May, there was an urgent call for a reform of the rules. Something had to be wrong, according to many broadcasters, performers, and fans, if Israel succeeded on such a large scale with audiences despite protests and condemnation.

The public broadcasters in Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, and Ireland asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to examine the audience voting results for fraud, with an eye to reforming the rules. They were especially critical of the fact that audience members can vote up to 20 times, although this has been allowed in the televoting since the late ’90s. Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, put aside all his other responsibilities and took time to call for Israel to be banned.

Several European broadcasters and journalists cited the fact that the Israeli government – and not KAN – sponsored ads on YouTube and social media, urging the public to vote for Raphael.

Austria’s JJ, who won the 2025 contest with the song “Wasted Love,” became a sore winner, saying, “I hope the competition next year will take place in Vienna – without Israel,” in an interview with the Spanish news outlet El País. “It’s very disappointing that Israel is still taking part in the contest…. There needs to be a change in the voting system. There should be more transparency in the televoting. This year, everything was very strange on that front.”

Erika Vikman, Finland’s contestant, who finished in 11th place and thus might be called a sore loser, was quoted in Wiwibloggs, hinting at classic antisemitic tropes when she said, “I read in Helsingin Sanomat today that Israel has been able to manipulate votes to a great extent. I feel that it is very unfair.”

But Martin Green, the director of Eurovision, made a strongly worded statement last May defending the integrity of the voting system, which he called “the most advanced in the world.” Wiwibloggs reported that Spotlight, the EBU’s independent fact-checking network, found that there was nothing against Eurovision rules in the Israeli promotional campaign.

Wiwibloggs’ Jordi Pedra wrote, “Spotlight’s investigation notes that other countries also ran advertising campaigns, including Malta, Greece, Albania, Poland, Armenia, and France. Some of these were run by the artists themselves via their own social platforms, and some were promoted via the competing broadcaster in the territory.”

But it was only Israel that performers and broadcasters said should be investigated. And it was only after Israel won the popular vote that there were widespread calls for rule changes. How’s that glass looking now?

The new rules adopted at the meeting last week allow each voter to cast only 10 votes, not 20. It’s hard to see how this will significantly move the needle. But another, far more significant change was implemented: National juries will now be able to vote in the semifinals and help determine which countries go to the finals.

This is a real blow to Israel’s chances in the competition, because for years the national juries have scored Israel far lower than the popular vote. Raphael received 297 audience votes, and only 60 from national juries. By contrast, the winning song, “Wasted Love,” received 178 votes from the public and 258 from the national juries. This has been a consistent pattern for years and will clearly affect Israel’s chances to qualify for the Grand Final.

Another way in which Israel has been attacked is that is has been compared to Russia, which was banned from the contest following its attack on Ukraine in 2022. Representatives of the EBU have repeatedly said that Eurovision is not a political competition between governments, but between public broadcasters, and that KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster, had not violated its rules. But Russia’s public broadcaster was found to have broadcast state propaganda justifying the war against Ukraine.

By contrast, KAN is run independently of government interference, and its news and documentary divisions consistently criticize the government, so much so that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi is engaged in a campaign to pass legislation to shut it down. The government is currently discussing ways to change the rules that guarantee KAN’s independence. KAN routinely gives a platform on its news broadcasts to politicians, commentators, and others who criticize government policy on the war in Gaza and many other issues. Its staff and broadcasters come from all religious and ethnic backgrounds. It is the opposite of a government mouthpiece; rather, it is a thorn in the government’s side.

Some countries, notably Germany and this year’s host, Austria, have expressed support for Israel, saying they would withdraw from the contest if Israel was prevented from participating. While many on social media have criticized the decision to keep Israel in, other fans have defended Israel’s inclusion, and many more from the countries that have announced boycotts have said that their country should still take part.

For those who don’t follow Eurovision very closely, here’s a short recap of Eurovision’s impact on Israel.

Eurovision was started in 1956, with the intention of fostering peaceful competition among nations, following World War II. One of the key rules is that residents of a country are not allowed to vote for their own representative.

The outcome is determined by a combination of audience votes and selections of national juries. Over the past 70 years, partly thanks to television and televoting, Eurovision has blossomed into a glittery extravaganza, which attracts hundreds of millions of viewers all over the world. Dozens of blogs and websites – perhaps even hundreds – chronicle every step of the process. All the major betting websites tote up the odds.

Many, especially those who seek to paint Israelis as European white colonizers, have asked why Israel is in Eurovision at all. The answer is that Israel’s broadcasting authority joined the EBU in the 1970s because there was no similar song contest in the Middle East, and if there were, Israel would likely not have been welcomed. That made it eligible to compete in Eurovision, and Israel has been sending performers to the contest since 1973, when Ilanit represented Israel.

It’s also important to note that several other countries outside of Europe also compete in Eurovision: Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Morocco (which competed once), but their participation is rarely questioned.

The song contest has long held a special place in the hearts of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community worldwide, and for decades, many Eurovision performers have been proudly out of the closet. Eytan Fox, a gay Israeli director, made a feature film about friends writing a song and competing in a song contest modeled on Eurovision, Cupcakes.

While once it was a more straightforward affair, with contestants singing in their native languages and often wearing traditional national costumes, now it is more homogenized. It has become big business, with the majority of songs performed in English. The colorful native garments were replaced decades ago with flashy, revealing outfits and sexy dance routines more reminiscent of Las Vegas than Europe.

Fun is the key to the contest, and there are many comic songs, like last year’s “Espresso Macchiato,” from Estonia, which spoofed Italian stereotypes and received almost as many audience votes as Yuval Raphael.

Many world-famous performers have gotten their first major international exposure on Eurovision, among them, ABBA (which won with “Waterloo” in 1974, the same year Israel’s beloved band Kaveret took part, performing, “I Gave Her My Life”), Celine Dion, Olivia Newton-John, Julio Iglesias, and France Gall.

In addition to “Waterloo,” many other hit tunes have come out of Eurovision, including “Ding-a-dong,” by Teach-In, and “Save Your Kisses for Me,” by Brotherhood of Man.

While Americans tend not to know much about Eurovision, the rest of the world is fascinated by it. The EBU opened up the voting recently to “the rest of the world” – i.e., nonparticipating countries.

Eurovision was the first popular international arena where Israel ever had a chance of winning, and that is part of why it holds such a strong place in its citizens’ hearts.

Israel took home the top prizes in 1978 and 1979, with wins for Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta in ’78 for the song “A-Ba-Ni-Bi,” which was translated into many languages and became an international hit (a Thai version of it was played on the recent season of The White Lotus), and Milk and Honey for “Hallelujah” in ’79.

In 1998, Israel won again with Dana International’s “Diva,” and she made history by being the first openly trans contestant – starting a trend of trans performers at Eurovision.

While for decades the top prize eluded Israel, Israelis continued to be devoted Eurovision fans. Finally, in 2018, Netta Barzilai became Israel’s fourth Eurovision winner with her rousing rendition of “Toy,” a self-empowerment anthem. The 2019 Eurovision competition was held in Tel Aviv.

Even when Israel didn’t win, its participation was a matter of national pride. Ofra Haza, one of the greatest Israeli pop stars of all time, finished second in 1983, singing, “Hai,” a paean to Jewish survival. Her performance was all the more meaningful because it was sung in Hebrew and included the line “Am Yisrael hai,” and also because that year Eurovision was held in Munich, 11 years after Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches were murdered there in a terrorist attack.

In a recent Instagram post, Dana International addressed the Israel haters, talking about the reality of what Hamas stands for: “Are you aware that if you accidentally end up on the streets of Gaza, you won’t get out of there alive? Do you know that Hamas sentences every LGBTQ to death by hanging (if not worse)? Do you understand that Hamas doesn’t support any rights for women and the LGBTQ community, and that they are not treated as equals?”

Currently, the “Next Star of Israel for Eurovision 2026” talent contest, which chooses Israel’s contestant, is going full speed ahead on Channel 12. The contest itself will be broadcast on KAN 11.

No matter how heated the discussions in Europe became, there was never any discussion of postponing the talent contest or any other aspect of the preparations, which start months in advance of the event. A sparkling crop of contestants is vying to take part, among them Rotem Sharabi, the niece of released hostage Eli Sharabi.

There will be a blue-and-white flag on stage in Vienna, eliciting pride among Israelis and displeasure from some Europeans, but whether Israel finishes close to the top again is an open question.

A music industry professional, who said that he preferred not to be quoted by name, because “I don’t want to be the doom-and-gloom guy,” said that the new semifinals rule is going to make it difficult.

“Israel may make it to the finals, but it’s going to be much, much tougher,” he said. “They’ve got to send someone incredible, someone world-class. And even then, it might not work.”

In the end, he said, the Europeans may not have gotten rid of Israel, “but it’s far less likely we’ll do well.”