Israel will be allowed to compete in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after participating broadcasters dropped a proposed ballot on the issue, following reforms aimed at improving the event’s “transparency and neutrality,” the European Broadcasting Union stated on Thursday.
The decision was made during a meeting held at the EBU’s Geneva headquarters to consider new rules announced last month aimed at reducing disproportionate influence over voting by governments and third parties.
Most EBU members “agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place,” according to the EBU.
The annual musical extravaganza is organized by the EBU, with the host nation’s national broadcaster producing the three live television shows.
“I would like to thank all members for their thoughtful, respectful and constructive contributions during today’s session and throughout the extensive consultation process undertaken this year,” EBU President Delphine Ernotte Cunci told reporters following the Geneva meeting.
“These discussions have led to meaningful changes to the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, ensuring it remains a place for unity and cultural exchange,” Cunci added.
The reforms, which were adopted in a secret vote on Thursday evening, include strict rules to curb government-backed promotion campaigns; halving the maximum number of public votes per payment method; reinstating professional juries in the semi-finals; expanding jury size and eligibility; and enhancing “technical safeguards” to detect fraud.
Broadcasters will now be asked to confirm their participation in the 2026 contest, and the list of participants for the Eurovision’s 70th-anniversary edition will be officially announced before Dec. 25.
The national broadcasters for Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands announced that their countries would skip the event in Vienna, being held May 12-16, 2026, due to the EBU’s decision to shelve Thursday’s vote.
Dutch broadcaster Avrotros stated that “participation under the current circumstances is incompatible with the public values that are essential to us.”
Spanish broadcaster RTVE said, “The board of directors of RTVE agreed last September that Spain would withdraw from Eurovision if Israel was part of it.”
“This withdrawal also means that RTVE will not broadcast the Eurovision 2026 final, nor the preliminary semi-finals,” it stated.
According to the Spanish broadcaster, the EBU “denied RTVE‘s request” to hold the vote.
“This decision increases RTVE‘s distrust of the festival’s organization and confirms political pressure surrounding it,” the broadcaster stated.
Other nations, including Slovenia and Iceland, are now expected to boycott Eurovision, BBC reported.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was “pleased that Israel will once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.”
“I hope that the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding,” he wrote.
“Israel deserves to be represented on every stage around the world, a cause to which I am fully and actively committed,” Herzog stated. “Thank you to all our friends who stood up for Israel’s right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote, “I welcome the decision of the European Broadcasting Union. I am ashamed of those countries that chose to boycott a music competition like Eurovision because of Israel’s participation. The disgrace is upon them.”
In October, the EBU postponed the proposed vote, originally scheduled for November. Instead, the topic was made part of the EBU’s regular General Assembly.
According to Austrian outlet Der Standard, the decision to postpone the vote was made “in light of recent developments in the Middle East,” in a reference to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that went into effect on Oct. 10, ending over two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The contest in Basel, Switzerland, this year and Malmö, Sweden, in 2024 were accompanied by massive anti-Israel protests over the war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, which was started by a Hamas-led cross-border invasion and massacre in Israel’s south on Oct. 7, 2023.
