"Eurovision remains a celebration of music and artists, not governments"

©picture alliance / BEAUTIFUL SPORTS | Froehlich

Was there ever an edition of the Eurovision Song Contest more criticized than this 70th edition in Vienna? Five countries are already openly boycotting this year's European music festival due to Israel's presence and actions. So don't look for participants from the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland on the stage of the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna this week.

By annual custom, the Eurovision Song Contest takes place this week, with the semifinals on May 12 and 14 and the grand final scheduled for Saturday, May 16, 2026. But there is a lot of tension surrounding this edition. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza was the main reason for the boycott by five countries. In addition, over the past two years the feeling grew that Israel was politically interfering with vote-rigging. And that violates Song Contest rules. After all, government money from Israel went into commercials for the 2024 and 2025 contestants anyway.

"What happened last year - the violation of universal values such as humanity and free press, but also the political interference in the previous edition of the Song Contest - means that a limit has been reached for us," AVROTROS wrote about the decision not to participate in the Song Contest when Israel would definitely participate.

Still on TV in the Netherlands

The song festival will indeed be shown on Dutch broadcasting. The NPO respects AVROTROS' choice to drop out, but wants to keep the Song Contest accessible for everyone. This edition is quite different from previous years, which is why NOS and NTR are doing the preview together. There will be interpretation and context for this remarkable edition. The short, twenty-minute broadcasts from Hilversum will cover Israel's participation and political role. The NPO sees this precisely as a task for public broadcasting, especially NOS and NTR.

Slovenia sends strong signal

Slovenia, however, goes one step further. Not only is the Song Contest not televised there; during the semi-finals and finals, something completely different is broadcast in protest. Indeed, Slovenian public broadcaster RTVSLO purchased documentaries and films about and from Gaza and is airing them at the same time that entries from Sweden, Italy and Cyprus, among others, are shown here.

"We now intervene in disproportionate promotion by governments"

Martin Green, the director of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), spoke about the challenges for this 70th Eurovision Song Contest edition in Vienna in a recent Reuters interview (May 8, 2026). He did not want to know about the exclusion of warring countries such as Ukraine. Green also sees a difference between Russia and Israel. He stressed that in his opinion they are different situations because, in his opinion, there is no consensus on Israel and there is a consensus on Russia, despite the boycott by five countries clearly directed against Israel's actions. Green acknowledged that voting campaigns, such as Israel's government support in 2025, were not dealt with severely enough. "We now intervene in disproportionate promotion by governments; juries balance the rules, but we no longer tolerate it." Moreover, he wants to see boycotting countries back in the coming years and sees geopolitics as a temporary dip: "Eurovision remains a celebration of music and artists, not governments." Thus the message of the director of the Eurovision Song Contest on the eve of this hotly contested edition.

©picture alliance / BEAUTIFUL SPORTS | Froehlich