European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the corporate entity that stages the Eurovision Song Contest, announced on Monday that it would cancel an “extraordinary” meeting planned for November to vote on allowing Israel to continue participating in the contest.
Rather than a vote on expelling Israel, the EBU clarified that it would hold an “open and in-person discussion” on Israel’s membership in the Eurovision family. The EBU statement did not clarify if the discussion would also include a vote on whether to continue allowing Israel to compete in the contest or not. The broadcaster made clear that the decision was a response to President Donald Trump’s mediating in the Middle East, which resulted in the release of all remaining living hostages taken by the genocidal jihadists of Hamas on October 7, 2023, and the signing of a peace agreement on Monday.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have begun withdrawing from Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas for nearly 20 years, and America’s Mideast partners have committed to establishing a legitimate government in Gaza and aiding post-war reconstruction.
“In the light of recent developments in the Middle East, the EBU’s executive board (meeting on October 13) agreed there was a clear need to organise an open and in-person discussion among its members on the issue of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026,” the EBU announced on Monday. “Consequently, the board agreed to put the issue on the agenda of its ordinary winter general assembly, which will be taking place in December, rather than organising an extraordinary session in advance.”
The statement, as reproduced by the Agence France-Presse (AFP), did not mention holding on a vote on expelling Israel.
The Eurovision Song Contest, which will turn 70 years old in 2026, is a continental event imagined in the aftermath of World War II to rekindle the frayed social ties on the continent, but rapidly expanded to include some Asian neighbors, including Israel, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The number of countries varies year to year, depending on which choose to participate; last year’s edition included 37 countries, including the three aforementioned competitors and Australia, which was invited to compete in 2015 in recognition of the large size of the Eurovision fanbase in that country.
Israel began competing in Eurovision in 1973 and has won the contest four times. Its 2025 competitor, Yuval Raphael – a survivor of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre – came in second place with her song, “New Day Will Rise.” Austria’s competitor, operatic singer JJ, won the contest with his song “Wasted Love.”
Radical leftists and Hamas sympathizers have been pressuring the EBU for years to expel Israel, claiming that its participation is tantamount to supporting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Raphael’s outstanding finish last year triggered an eruption of antisemitic rage and accusations of cheating, which prompted the Eurovision community on Reddit, one of the most active hubs of Eurovision conversation online, to shut down for 12 hours after the competition to silence “hate speech.” Raphael herself ensured threats throughout the competition, including pro-Hamas rioters making throat-slitting gestures at her during the “turquoise carpet” competitor event that typically opens Eurovision Grand Final Week.
Opponents of Israel’s participation have regularly compared the situation in Gaza to that in Ukraine, noting that the EBU expelled Russia and its ally Belarus from the contest in 2022 in response to strongman Vladimir Putin launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine has competed in Eurovision since 2003 and won three times, most recently in 2022. The argument comparing Russia to Israel, however, ignores that Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, not the other way around, and Israel’s military operations in Gaza are a self-defense response to a terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people, not an invasion on conquest. The Israeli government has indicated no desire to take over and colonize Gaza, while Russia has “annexed” entire territories within Ukraine.
Russia has responded to its ouster by creating a low-budget alternative to Eurovision, the “Intervision Song Contest,” which communist Vietnam won in September.
Countries are represented in Eurovision by their public broadcasting networks. The pro-Hamas agitators attracted significant support from several of these. The broadcasters from Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia all threatened to walk away from the contest if the EBU did not ban Israel from competing following the end of the 2025 contest. JJ, the 2025 winner, stated in an interview following his victory that found Israel’s inclusion “very disappointing” and “would like next year’s Eurovision,” which will be hosted by Austria, ” to take place in Vienna without Israel.”
Last week, Austria’s government announced that, to the contrary, if the EBU bans Israel, Austria will relinquish hosting duties and not participate in Eurovision.
The EBU responded to the pressure to oust Israel by announcing that it would hold an extraordinary meeting in November featuring a vote, an attempt to allow all involved countries to air their grievances on an equal playing field.
“Given that the Union has never faced a divisive situation like this before, the Board agreed that this question merited a broader democratic basis for a decision,” EBU president Delphine Ernotte Cunci said in a letter announcing that meeting in December.
The war that prompted the scheduling of that meeting has ended, however, as a result of mediation by the White House. President Trump announced a 20-point plan in September to end the war, which required both Hamas to release all its hostages and Israel to release a large number of Palestinian convicted criminals. The plan also allows for amnesty for some Hamas terrorists, but strips Hamas of political control of Gaza, creating a bureaucratic executive board to oversee reconstruction and transition out of jihadist rule.
Both the remaining leadership of Hamas and the government of Israel accepted the plan. Mideast stakeholders such as neighboring Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Qatar have also committed to helping Gaza rebuild. Egypt hosted a summit in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday for participants to sign onto the agreement.
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