Five countries have boycotted next week’s event over Israel’s participation, throwing the contest into crisis. [Getty]
Eurovision has issued a formal warning to Israeli broadcaster Kan for artificially inflating its votes for Israel’s entry in the 2026 competition.
Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green said videos published by the artist representing Israel had broken the rules and spirit of the competition.
Organisers were made aware of videos shared by the singer, Noam Bettan, telling viewers to “vote 10 times” for Israel.
Kan has since removed the videos and stopped their distribution after receiving a written warning, Green said.
Professional juries account for half of the final result, with the remainder decided by viewers who can cast up to 10 votes.
This is not the first time Israel is alleged to have tried to manipulate voting in the world’s largest live music competition.
The European Broadcasting Union, the organiser of the contest, was forced to tighten voting rules last year after several countries raised concerns over Israel’s second-place finish in 2025.
Singer Yuval Raphael’s first-place finish in the public vote resulted in speculation that the Israeli government had rigged the vote by running large-scale promotional campaigns.
The song competition has been thrown into crisis over Israel’s inclusion in the 2026 event, which drew widespread outrage over its genocidal war in Gaza.
Five countries, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain, all pulled out of the contest after organisers allowed Israel to participate.
Ireland’s RTE said its participation would be “unconscionable” given Israel’s behaviour in Gaza while the Netherland’s public broadcaster said its participation “cannot be reconciled” with its values.
The EBU has justified keeping Israel inside the competition by claiming it is politically neutral, though barred Russia just a day after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
More than 1,000 musicians and artists last month renewed calls for participants to boycott the contest over Israel’s involvement.
“How can any performer or Eurovision fan in good conscience participate at the contest’s next edition in Austria amidst US-Israeli plans for hyper-surveilled concentration camps in ‘New Gaza’?” the letter reads, co-signed by artists including Macklemore, Paloma Faith, Kneecap, Massive Attack and former winners of the Eurovision contest.
The contest will take place in Vienna later this month, with two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May and a final on 16 May.
