Austria rallies support for Israel as Eurovision boycott pressure continues to mount

The host of the Eurovision Song Contest, Austria’s public broadcaster, announced on Tuesday it hopes Israel will be able to participate in the upcoming annual international competition.

Last month, the European Broadcasting Union said Israel’s participation would be decided upon at its regular meeting in December amid a growing list of countries threatening to boycott the event if Israel is allowed to participate.

ORF’s (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) Director General, Roland Weissmann, said he’s done “intense work” to persuade other countries to come to Vienna next May for the song contest.

“Honestly, this is the time for diplomacy,” Weissmann said.

Spain, Ireland, Iceland, and the Netherlands have all said they would boycott the 2026 event if Israel is allowed to participate. Belgium, Sweden and Finland have also been considering a boycott.

A senior Austrian foreign ministry official, Sepp Schellhorn, called the boycott “dumb and pointless” while Germany has also warned that politicizing the event might result in it not happening at all. 

Austria was chosen to host the 70th edition in 2026 event after JJ, (Johannes Pietsch), won the 2025 song contest with his techno/operatic song, “Wasted Love”.

Israel’s Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova music festival murders, won second place by a landslide. 

The 2025 competition was held in Basel, Switzerland and received record-breaking engagement with 166 million views in 37 countries.

Israel isn’t the first to be threatened with exclusion. Russia was excluded after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Belarus wasn’t allowed to participate a year earlier after the 7th consecutive re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. 

Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria intend to return to the 2026 contest, while other countries like Canada are expressing an interest, though the decision depends on a special invitation from the EBU (European Broadcasting Union).

Israel has participated in the Eurovision competition since 1973 and has won four times-in1978, 1979, 1998, 2018 and hosted the event three times. 

In 2023 and 2024, after the war in Gaza was under way, several countries made efforts to bar Israel from participating, which resulted in stronger support and higher votes for the country’s contestants. 

Noam Bettan is the leading candidate to represent Israel at Eurovision 2026 after her successful audition for HaKokhav Haba (The Next Star). 

EBU member states will vote in December whether the Israeli public broadcaster, KAN, will be allowed participate in the contest.