Ireland to boycott Eurovision unless Israel are banned from contest
Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ has confirmed it won’t participate in Eurovision unless Israel is banned from the competition.
They are the second broadcaster to pile pressure after Slovenia’s national broadcaster also threatened not to participate in Eurovision in 2026 if Israel is allowed to be involved. The competition is set to take place in Vienna, Austria, next May.
In a statement, RTÉ shared, “It is RTÉ’s position that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision song contest if the participation of Israel goes ahead, and the final decision regarding Ireland’s participation will be made once the EBU’s decision is made.”
The broadcaster continued: “RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza. RTÉ is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.”
Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO also recently outlined a similar stance to RTÉ. RTVSLO director Ksenija Horvat said, “We realistically think that we won’t be able to go to the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Meanwhile, Spanish Minister for Culture, Ernest Urtasun, appeared on the television show, La hora de La 1 on TVE earlier this week, and said, “I don’t think we can normalise Israel’s participation in international events as if nothing is happening.”
Urtasun also remarked: “In Eurovision’s case, it is not an individual artist who participates but someone who participates on behalf of that country’s citizens.”
Martin Green, director of Eurovision, has said: “We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision song contest. It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”
Before the 2025 edition of Eurovision, which was held in Basel in May, over 70 current and former contestants of the competition signed an open letter that calls for Israel and national broadcaster KAN to be banned from the 2025 show.
The letter, addressed to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), accused KAN of being “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people”.
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