Public broadcasters in Spain, Ireland and Slovenia announced Monday they will not air this week’s 70th anniversary Eurovision Song Contest, joining a boycott over Israel’s participation in the competition.
The three countries, together with the Netherlands and Iceland, withdrew from this year’s edition in Vienna, which begins on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s grand final. ALSO READ: Spain, Ireland, Slovenia & the Netherlands withdraw from Eurovision, after Israel remains eligible.
The dispute comes amid growing international criticism surrounding Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Questions have also been raised over the integrity of the televoting system after claims it may have been manipulated to favour Israel during Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. Several broadcasters additionally criticised restrictions placed on media access to Gaza by Israeli authorities. ALSO READ: Spain’s national broadcaster defies Eurovision organisers, and airs support message for Palestine.
‘Instead of the Eurovision circus, the national television programme will be coloured by the thematic programme series Voices of Palestine,‘ Slovenian broadcaster RTV said.
Irish broadcaster RTE has opted to replace Thursday’s second semi-final with The End of the World with Beanz, a programme featuring 1993 Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh living alongside reindeer herders in Norway.
For Saturday’s final, viewers in Ireland will instead see a Eurovision-inspired episode of the hit 1990s sitcom Father Ted.
Spain’s RTVE, meanwhile, plans to broadcast its own entertainment programme, titled The House of Music.
Although both the Netherlands and Iceland have also withdrawn from the contest, broadcasters in those countries still intend to air the event.
Vienna is hosting Eurovision’s milestone 70th edition this year, with Austrian organisers staging one of the world’s largest live televised music spectacles.
Just 35 nations are set to compete — the lowest number since Eurovision expanded participation in 2004 — following the withdrawal of five countries.
Launched in 1956, the contest is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s largest association of public-service broadcasters.
Rights group Amnesty International criticised the EBU for not banning Israel from the competition, contrasting the decision with Russia’s exclusion after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. ALSO READ: Spain’s sports minister: Israeli teams should face same bans as imposed on Russia.
Amnesty said the move was ‘an act of cowardice and an illustration of blatant double standards’.
Israel’s involvement in Eurovision ‘offers the country a platform to try to deflect attention from and normalise its ongoing genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip’, Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
‘Songs and sequins must not be allowed to drown out or distract from Israel’s atrocities or Palestinian suffering.’
A UN-supported investigation concluded in September that ‘genocide is occurring in Gaza’, an accusation Israel strongly rejects. ALSO READ: Spanish PM: Gaza truce must not mean impunity for ‘genocide’.
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🔴 ÚLTIMA HORA | RTVE plantará cara a Eurovisión en su final: no emitirá el festival y dará un especial musical con artistas de primera talla
— Cadena SER (@La_SER) May 4, 2026
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