Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands pull out after decision not to hold vote on Israel’s participation

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was given the all-clear to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls by several participating broadcasters for its exclusion over the war in Gaza.

No vote on Israel’s participation was held on Thursday at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that organises the hugely popular international annual singing competition.

Instead, participating broadcasters voted only to introduce new rules designed to stop governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    23·
    14 hours ago

    A large majority of members agreed that there was no need for a further vote

    Yeah, “we didn’t vote because most of us didn’t think it was necessary” is some Israeli hasbara level bullshit! 🤦🤬

    • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      Oh, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if a lot of national delegates quietly and behind closed doors expressed a will for there not to be a public vote, since they did not want it their support for the Genocidal state of Israel to be on record and publicly known.

      In Politics (and Eurovision is much more Politics than Art) many if not most things are really decided behind closed doors either without a vote or with a rigged vote - politicias abhor transparency and accountability.