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After the final of the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend (May 17), more and more voices are being loud, which are in the competition of the coming year for a degree in Israel. This also includes the winner of the ESC 2025.
The discussion about Israel’s participation in the ESC is not a new one
The ESC final 2025 won Austria with JJS performance to “Wasted Love”. Yuval Raphael, who competed for Israel with her song “New Day Will Rise”. Discussions arose months before the event whether Israel was currently supposed to take part in the competition. The reason for this are the ongoing conflict with Palestine and the military approach to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. Since a renewed escalation of the war after the attack of Hamas on an Israeli music festival in October 2023, the Israeli government has been accused of several organizations, including Amnesty International. The International Court of Justice also speaks of the fact that Israel violates international law by doing the procedure in the Palestinian areas.
At the beginning of May, more than 70 former participants signed: Inside, including Nemo, winner: last year, an open letter. The demand was the exclusion of Israel and the public service broadcaster “Kan” from this year’s competition.
Frequent comparison with the exclusion of Russia
After the final, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed the same demand. “Nobody was upset when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began three years ago [Russland] had to leave international competitions and, as we saw, could not take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, “he explained.” That’s why Israel shouldn’t do that either, because we cannot afford a double standards in culture. “
Spanish and Belgian radio stations also complained to the European Radio Union (EBU), which organizes the song contest. They called for an investigation of the viewer system: internal voting, where fans can vote up to 20 times by phone, SMS or app at home.
Increasing “social and geopolitical tensions”
Now the Irish radio station “RTé” also lined up with the critics and questioned the “breakdown of the number of voices”. The public service broadcasters of the Netherlands, “Avrotros” and “NPO”, have also given a similar explanation. They claimed that the ESC was increasingly being “influenced by social and geopolitical tensions” and that Israel’s participation is “the question” whether the Eurovision Song Contest still works as an apolitical, binding and cultural event “.
In advance of the final, there were also critical statements by the Slovenian broadcaster “RTV Slo” and the Icelandic Secretary of Foreign Affairs Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir.
Statement of the ESC boss and JJ
In a statement to “NME”, Martin Green, the director of the ESCS, emphasized that the EBU was a association of public service broadcasters and not of governments. “We are in constant contact with all participating channels of the Eurovision Song Contest, including RTVE in Spain, and take their concerns seriously.” To plan the upcoming ESC, he wants to “have a comprehensive discussion with all participating channels in order to reflect on all aspects of this year’s event and to obtain feedback.”
This year’s winner JJ recently commented on the subject. He told the Spanish newspaper “El País” that he felt it “very disappointing” that Israel still takes part in the competition. “I would like the Eurovision Song Contest take place in Vienna next year, without Israel,” he said. However, he also explained that a decision in this regard lies at EBU. “We artists can only comment on this.”