Members of the European Union of Radio will organize a vote in November to determine if Israel will participate in the Eurovision competition for next year.
“A vote on the participation in the Eurovision competition of the song 2026 will take place during an extraordinary meeting of the general assembly of the Ubu which will be held online in early November,” a spokesperson for the Ubu in Reuters, later that the vote must determine whether the Israeli public broadcaster Kan will be authorized to participate.
Israel’s participation in Eurovision was questioned during the current war in Gaza, several broadcasters leading to withdraw from the event if Israel is in competition. On September 16, the Spanish broadcaster RTVE voted to withdraw from the competition, which should be held in Vienna next May, if Israel is participating. Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia have also made similar declarations.
In a letter sent to UBU members on Thursday, as indicated by The Guardian, President Delphine Ernotte Cunci wrote that there is an “unprecedented diversity of opinions” on Israel should be authorized to participate and that the question would therefore require “a broader democratic basis”.
In a statement, Kan said he hoped that “the Eurovision Song competition will continue to maintain his cultural and non -political identity”.
The declaration continued that Kan’s disqualification “would be particularly disturbing before the 70th edition of the song competition, which was founded as a symbol of unity, solidarity and communion. Such a decision could have vast implications for competition and the values for which the EBU is. ”
Since the current conflict in Gaza began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the country’s participation in Eurovision has faced the dissent. In 2024, thousands of people gathered in Malmo, Sweden, to protest the participation of Israel and Basel earlier this year, the demonstrators tried to rush to the stage to disrupt the performance of the Israeli singer Yuval Raphaël.
Following the disagreement on Israel’s participation, the final confirmation date for participation has already been transferred to December.
