Eurovision 2026

[brad465]

This week is Eurovision, starting on the 12th with the final on the 16th. And, two years on from the thread on the 2024 one, I'll be almost copying the opening text from it. Not only will it be controversial for Israel's participation, but I would not be surprised if this ends up going so badly it's the last ever Eurovision. Five countries are boycotting it because of their participation, to the point of neither contesting nor broadcasting in their respective countries. The Austrian hosts have also said they won't be banning Palestinian flags or deploying anti-booing tricks, which will be exploited. Furthermore, now that the Iran attack has happened, which not only has Israeli military fingerprints on it, but has a direct cost of living impact, there will be much more motivation to vent fury towards their delegation at the event.

As for the actual competition, currently Finland are favourites, which if translated into a win would makeup for how they were effectively robbed a few years back coming second overall (but first on the popular vote):

https://www.oddschecker.com/tv/eurovision/winner

 

[yorkie]

I don't think many people want anything to do with Eurovision this year, and rightly so.

Europe: Failure to suspend Israel from Eurovision betrays humanity and exposes blatant double standards

Ahead of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals, in which Israel will participate, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said: “The failure of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to suspend Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia, is an act of cowardice and an...

www.amnesty.org

“The failure of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to suspend Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia, is an act of cowardice and an illustration of blatant double standards when it comes to Israel.

“Instead of sending a clear message that there is a cost for Israel’s atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people, the EBU has given Israel this international stage even as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza, unlawful occupation and apartheid. The European Broadcasting Union is betraying the values of the Eurovision Song Contest, which include freedom from intolerance, hate speech and discrimination. It is also ignoring the protests by its members from Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland, who withdrew from the contest because of Israel’s participation. Ultimately, the EBU has betrayed humanity.

Why I'm not watching Eurovision this year

The EBU's refusal to meaningfully change the voting rules has made the contest result feel uncomfortably pre-ordained to many fans. It's a tragic self-own against European soft power.

davekeating.substack.com

...I cannot defend Israel’s participation any longer. Two things have changed my feelings on the matter. One is the Israeli government’s politicising of the vote in 2024 and 2025 with government-linked get-out-the-vote campaigns that I have detailed in the past. For the government, it wasn’t enough just to participate. They want to win to demonstrate European public support for Israel. The lengths to which the Netanyahu government went to put Israel at the top of the public vote the past two years have now been documented by a New York Times investigation published on 11 May.

The only thing I want to hear is that Israel didn't win and hopefully does very badly.

If they're not going to do the right thing and ban them, then I think the competition will be finished.

 

[thenorthern]

In my opinion, the semi-final was a bit meh in terms of songs. It was boring at times to be honest.

 

[YorkshireBear]

I don't think many people want anything to do with Eurovision this year, and rightly so.

Europe: Failure to suspend Israel from Eurovision betrays humanity and exposes blatant double standards

Ahead of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals, in which Israel will participate, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said: “The failure of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to suspend Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia, is an act of cowardice and an...

www.amnesty.org

Why I'm not watching Eurovision this year

The EBU's refusal to meaningfully change the voting rules has made the contest result feel uncomfortably pre-ordained to many fans. It's a tragic self-own against European soft power.

davekeating.substack.com

The only thing I want to hear is that Israel didn't win and hopefully does very badly.

If they're not going to do the right thing and ban them, then I think the competition will be finished.

I had a fairly long discussion with a colleague about this where I basically said, either we claim that it is in no way political at all and welcome Russia back, or we ban Israel. You can't have both as it shows double standards.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Israel aren't the first country to use the Eurovision Song Contest as a soft power tool and they won't be the last. Look at Azerbaijan and how they went to town in making sure they won it.

The hypocrisy is what bothers me. Russia and Belarus were banned from the competition for political reasons. But now there's pressure on Israel suddenly Eurovision "isn't political." I do have some sympathy with the European Broadcast Union on this- four countries are boycotting it because of Israel's presence but Germany and Austria said they'd boycott if Israel wasn't present, and I strongly suspect the BBC privately holds that position too. Although given that Eurovision's current Director Martin Green is a British man whose previous career highlight was the £120m Festival of Brexit, I doubt Israel being banned was ever seriously on the agenda.

Anyway, I didn't watch, and won't watch as long as there are no meaningful sanctions applied to Israel. I don't necessarily mean banning Israel, but the entire contest being sponsored by an Israeli company sticks in the throat for me. I'm interested to see if they're able to counter Israel's organised public voting again this year. I suspect that if Israel win it then it will finish the competition off for good.

 

[OuterDistant]

Let's hope that at this year's political infighting, a song contest doesn't break out!

 

[ainsworth74]

I had a fairly long discussion with a colleague about this where I basically said, either we claim that it is in no way political at all and welcome Russia back, or we ban Israel. You can't have both as it shows double standards.

The hypocrisy is what bothers me. Russia and Belarus were banned from the competition for political reasons. But now there's pressure on Israel suddenly Eurovision "isn't political." I do have some sympathy with the European Broadcast Union on this- four countries are boycotting it because of Israel's presence but Germany and Austria said they'd boycott if Israel wasn't present, and I strongly suspect the BBC privately holds that position too.

Yeah that's basically where I sit on this (and to be honest sport as well where we have a similar problem). Either we ban Russia and Israel from Eurovision or we don't. Personally I'm in the "If you're going around invading and brutalising other countries you don't get to be in our fun song contest whitewashing your reputation" camp but it's the hypocrisy that get's me. It's one or the other. Either that is a standard we uphold in which case it needs to be applied at least vaguely consistently or it isn't in which case there's no point excluding countries just because of their immoral behaviour.

 

[brad465]

Let's hope that at this year's political infighting, a song contest doesn't break out!

 

[Techniquest]

Let's hope that at this year's political infighting, a song contest doesn't break out!

I’m with @brad465 on that, I raised a smile which was badly needed right now!

Politics-wise, I’m very lucky to not be involved in any way, shape or form. This is a good time to not be following the news or on social media! Blissful ignorance of the world and its silliness is a wonderful thing, I must say!

As for Eurovision, I don’t actually recall watching it last year. Years ago I always enjoyed watching the points bit in the final part of the competition, the music wasn’t really a big thing for me but it was always just something fun to watch after visiting the May Fair. Or if nothing else of interest was on at the time!

One thing that Eurovision is good for, in my opinion, is that it helps increase one’s knowledge of geography. Without Eurovision, I’d have never heard of a lot of the countries involved.

Will I watch the final, if only the points bit, this year? Very possibly, I’ve not decided yet. I don’t particularly care what countries are in it or not, as I say I’m not into all the politics and such like, I’m just there for the fun of the points declaration and the commentary!

 

[yorkie]

Bizarrely, the disgraced Zionist representing the apartheid regime, Noam Bettan was "surprised" at booing:

Eurovision: Israel's Noam Bettan 'shocked' by semi-final protests

Noam Bettan was met with a mixture of cheering, boos and chants as he performed in Vienna on Tuesday night.

www.bbc.co.uk

Israel's contestant at the Eurovision Song Contest has said he was surprised by protests that disrupted his semi-final performance.

Several audience members - including one with "Free Palestine" written across his chest - were removed from Vienna's Wiener Stadthalle on Tuesday night after chants of "stop the genocide" were heard during the song...

Great to hear that people stood up for what's right, and I hope that the pressure continues.

Noam Bettan was also caught engaging in actions that are "not in the spirit" of the competition, which of course is absolutely unsurprising from someone representing the far-right regime:

Bettan has been at the centre of a minor controversy, after he asked fans on social media to use all 10 of their votes to support Israel at Saturday's grand final.

That prompted a rebuke from organisers, who said Bettan's post "wasn't in the spirit" of the competition, and demanded that it be deleted.

According to a couple of sources, Noam Bettan has been glorifying the actions of war criminals:

4.5K views · 172 reactions | Apartheid Israel's Eurovision 2026 contestant just loves the war criminals of the occupation forces. Throughout the genocide he, Noam Bettan, has sung for and about the Israeli military, glorifying it even as it commits e

Apartheid Israel's Eurovision 2026 contestant just loves the war criminals of the occupation forces. Throughout the genocide he, Noam Bettan, has sung for and about the Israeli military, glorifying...

www.facebook.com

Apartheid Israel's Eurovision 2026 contestant just loves the war criminals of the occupation forces. Throughout the genocide he, Noam Bettan, has sung for and about the Israeli military, glorifying it even as it commits endless mass murder of Palestinians. Despite all the guff, Eurovision is always political and Israel uses it as a means to artwash its genocidal crimes and must be expelled

Artists For Palestine UK on Instagram: "Israel’s Eurovision 2026 contestant celebrates genocidal military - In November 2023, six weeks into the genocide in Gaza, Noam Bettan solicited the Israeli public for “recent beautiful/uplifting/touching/happy

358 likes, 29 comments - artists4palestineuk on February 2, 2026: "Israel’s Eurovision 2026 contestant celebrates genocidal military - In November 2023, six weeks into the genocide in Gaza, Noam Bettan solicited the Israeli public for “recent beautiful/uplifting/touching/happy/uniting videos of...

www.instagram.com

Israel’s Eurovision 2026 contestant celebrates genocidal military - In November 2023, six weeks into the genocide in Gaza, Noam Bettan solicited the Israeli public for “recent beautiful/uplifting/touching/happy/uniting videos of the security forces.”

The resulting propagandistic music video that you are watching is for his song, ‘Coming back home’ - released in December 2023 as Israel forcibly displaced Gaza’s residents from their homes, which they destroyed.

Throughout the genocide Bettan has been singing for and about Israeli soldiers, glorifying a military that has slaughtered over 70,000 Palestinians in Israel’s ongoing genocide.

Israel uses Eurovision to artwash its war crimes and must be banned from the song contest regardless of who their contestant is, but Noam Bettan is emblematic of his society: Israel’s whole social structure is militarised - it is said that Israel is an army, with a country attached.

I hope that he continues to receive the sort of reception that supporters of war crimes deserve

 

[Ashley Hill]

In my local pub tonight we all sang along to the British entry. Sadly 15mins into the votes i think it’s clear we are not going to win. A shame really as I think it’s a really good tune. I’ve followed his YouTube channel for a couple of years as I like what Sam does with old synths.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 May 2026 ==

I do wonder if the British media are behind this years entry? Despite being very catchy it doesn’t seem to have had much publicity. I’ve had the radio on most of the day and not heard it played once.
Years ago the British entry would appear on Top of the Pops weeks in advance and get much radio play.

 

[brad465]

Bulgaria win. UK managing an "improved" performance by getting 1 point.

 

[JamesT]

In my local pub tonight we all sang along to the British entry. Sadly 15mins into the votes i think it’s clear we are not going to win. A shame really as I think it’s a really good tune. I’ve followed his YouTube channel for a couple of years as I like what Sam does with old synths.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 May 2026 ==

I do wonder if the British media are behind this years entry? Despite being very catchy it doesn’t seem to have had much publicity. I’ve had the radio on most of the day and not heard it played once.
Years ago the British entry would appear on Top of the Pops weeks in advance and get much radio play.

It was a very marmite entry, that obviously only resonated in Ukraine. I do wonder how many 11th places there might be when the full results are released.
Massively backwards from last year, that at least managed 10th in the jury votes even if they got nothing from the public.

I’ve heard our entry a few times on Radio 2, but that’s expected as they’re broadcasting the competition. Which station were you listening to? TOTP hasn’t been on the telly normally for 20 years now.
But given the structure of the voting system where you can’t vote for yourself, isn’t the question whether we’re getting any airplay abroad? Which perhaps not having a novelty record as our entry might help with.

 

[Trackman]

I watched it for the sake of doing (well last hour), it was either that or a recorded Ant & Dec limitless win programme - which I may do now!
I remember Tel (Wogan) giving it up live by saying 'I've had enough of the politics, I wont be this doing this again' or something to that effect.

 

[MrJeeves]

It was a very marmite entry, that obviously only resonated in Ukraine.

I'm sure that was why we got that point.

 

[martin2345uk]

We entered a terrible (IMO) song and came last.

Quite surprised the UK public gave Israel the second highest points....

 

[Mojo]

We entered a terrible (IMO) song and came last.

When l heard it during the semifinals on Thursday night l thought he sounded really out of tune.

 

[JamesT]

We entered a terrible (IMO) song and came last.

Quite surprised the UK public gave Israel the second highest points....

I wasn’t. Israel got maximum points from the UK public in the last two years.
The professed response of those that don’t want Israel in the competition is a boycott, so they’re not in there voting for anyone else.
Though they don’t publish the numbers of votes, some searching suggests it’s in the hundreds of thousands in terms of the UK. I’ve no idea whether that makes them more representative of the public as a whole than say the tens of thousands marching yesterday.

 

[Purple Train]

Yeah that's basically where I sit on this (and to be honest sport as well where we have a similar problem). Either we ban Russia and Israel from Eurovision or we don't. Personally I'm in the "If you're going around invading and brutalising other countries you don't get to be in our fun song contest whitewashing your reputation" camp but it's the hypocrisy that gets me. It's one or the other. Either that is a standard we uphold in which case it needs to be applied at least vaguely consistently or it isn't in which case there's no point excluding countries just because of their immoral behaviour.

I cannot stand Eurovision and have no idea why I clicked on this thread, but this is very, very well said and reasonable - thank you.

Although I did see that the UK finished last, which always cheers me up in some way - not out of schadenfreude, but public duty I guess.

 

[Trackman]

I cannot stand Eurovision and have no idea why I clicked on this thread, but this is very, very well said and reasonable - thank you.

Although I did see that the UK finished last, which always cheers me up in some way - not out of schadenfreude, but public duty I guess.

I was watching to see how Israel would do as the noncensored audience audio showed a lot of people were unhappy.

 

[Cdd89]

Yeah that's basically where I sit on this (and to be honest sport as well where we have a similar problem). Either we ban Russia and Israel from Eurovision or we don't. Personally I'm in the "If you're going around invading and brutalising other countries you don't get to be in our fun song contest whitewashing your reputation" camp but it's the hypocrisy that get's me. It's one or the other. Either that is a standard we uphold in which case it needs to be applied at least vaguely consistently or it isn't in which case there's no point excluding countries just because of their immoral behaviour.

I've been wondering this too, and my best explanation (which should not be mistaken for a justification) goes like this:

Russia (and Belarus) immediately crossed a line and conducted an abhorrent and ongoing act which made it easy for every nation to unite against them.

Israel's actions on the other hand initially had a "both sides" element to them, which stopped them being immediately condemned in the earlier stages. Like the boiling frog, even though they are now at a place that is arguably worse than Russia in terms of war crimes, the earlier inaction makes it hard to unite behind a ban now, since the only real difference between their participation in the last three contests is that their campaign has gone on for longer.

 

[thenorthern]

I didn't expect Look Mom No Computer to win but I didn't expect it to do as badly as it did. Fun fact for the past 3 Eurovision editions the Unied Kingdom has failed to get a single point from the televote.

The main reason the United Kingdom does not do well anymore is that until 1999 countries had to sing in a language that is an official language of that country. Prior to that rule being abolished at Eurovision 1999 the United Kingdom only finished outside of the top 10 twice. Since that rule was abolished the United Kingdom has only finished in the top 10 3 times (2002, 2009 and 2022). Malta and Ireland have suffered the same fate as both of them used to do well as they had the advantage that they could sing in English.

I've been wondering this too, and my best explanation (which should not be mistaken for a justification) goes like this:

Russia (and Belarus) immediately crossed a line and conducted an abhorrent and ongoing act which made it easy for every nation to unite against them.

Israel's actions on the other hand initially had a "both sides" element to them, which stopped them being immediately condemned in the earlier stages. Like the boiling frog, even though they are now at a place that is arguably worse than Russia in terms of war crimes, the earlier inaction makes it hard to unite behind a ban now, since the only real difference between their participation in the last three contests is that their campaign has gone on for longer.

Slightly different situation with Russia and BTRC from Belarus was kicked out of the EBU in 2021 so before the Ukraine war due to interference from the government. Russia broadcasters had their membership of the EBU suspended due to the Ukraine war, although at the time the EBU was investigating them for government interference. One of the main cornerstones of the EBU is that they are public service broadcasters which don't have freedom of the press.

In this country, BBC, ITV, STV, Channel 4 and S4C are EBU members.

In Israel the EBU member is Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation; thus far has not been accused of having the same government interference as Belarus and Russia has.

 

[dosxuk]

In Israel the EBU member is Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation; thus far has not been accused of having the same government interference as Belarus and Russia has.

They have - but things are debatable enough that talk hasn't turned to being kicked out, rather more the "don't do that again or we'll have to tell you off" stage.

 

[thenorthern]

They have - but things are debatable enough that talk hasn't turned to being kicked out, rather more the "don't do that again or we'll have to tell you off" stage.

Not on the same level as what was happening in Belarus.

Interestingly, Spain who boycotted this year is proposing a rule which would stop countries that are at war from participating in Eurovision.

Spain: RTVE Proposes Rule Change to Ban Countries in Conflict From Participation in Eurovision

The Head of the Spanish broadcaster has stated he wishes to see the European Broadcasting Union change the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest to stop countries in conflict from being able to participate.

Speaking yesterday to the Spanish Parliament, the President of RTVE, José Pablo López, is calling for discussions within the EBU to change the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. He told the Joint Committee that: “We should open a serious debate once and for all, which I hope we can do in the coming weeks, on reforming the EBU’s statutes so that countries in conflict cannot participate in the next Eurovision Song Contest.”

The Spanish broadcaster is asking for a conversation regarding changes the rules of participation to outline clear criteria for countries participating in the contest when they are involved in an international conflict. Exactly how they expect the rule changes proposed to work has not been explained by José Pablo López.

Currently two countries are competing in the Eurovision Song Contest who are involved in an international conflict. Ukraine is represented by their broadcaster Suspilne, while Israel is represented by KAN. It is not clear whether the rule change being proposed by RTVE would impact both countries. https://eurovoix.com/2026/02/25/rtv...in-conflict-from-participation-in-eurovision/

Notice how Spain mentioned "international conflict", presumably because until 2011 they had the Basque conflict which could be decribed as a war. Also it would mean excluding Ukraine from Eurovision for the actions of Russia.

Most importantly though it would have put the United Kingdom's participation at risk due to the Iraq War of 2003. Particularly given the death of Dr David Kelly and the resultant Hutton Inquiry which which was seen by some as an attack on the press.

 

[Thirteen]

If we want to do better, we need more singers like Delta Goodrem who came fourth for Australia.