Rising anti-Israel boycotts expose Europe’s hypocrisy as Austria defends Israel against Gaza-driven pressure.
Austria’s national broadcaster ORF — host of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest — announced Tuesday that it is scrambling to forge a compromise that will allow Israel to participate despite mounting boycott threats from several European countries, AFP reported.
The European Broadcasting Union had planned to vote on Israel’s participation in November, but the session was cancelled after a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas temporarily shifted diplomatic calculations. The ruling is now expected in December, with battle lines already forming across the continent.
A growing coalition of countries — Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland, and the Netherlands — have threatened to boycott Eurovision altogether unless Israel is expelled due to the Gaza conflict. Belgium, Sweden, and Finland are reportedly considering joining the anti-Israel bloc, turning what was once a musical celebration into a political weapon aimed squarely at the Jewish state.
ORF Director General Roland Weissmann said he has been engaged in intense, round-the-clock diplomacy to convince European broadcasters not to abandon the contest. “This is the time for diplomacy,” he said — a polite way of admitting the situation is on the verge of fracturing Eurovision from within.
Austria’s Foreign Ministry official Sepp Schellhorn condemned the boycott threats as “dumb and pointless,” while Germany accused the participating countries of “politicizing culture in the worst possible way.” Both nations insist that allowing Israel to compete is not only fair — it is morally necessary.
Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker issued one of the strongest statements yet, rejecting any attempt to exclude Israel. “I would consider it a fatal mistake to exclude Israel,” he declared, invoking Austria’s historical guilt for the Holocaust. “Based on our history alone, I would never be in favor of that.”
This is not the first time Eurovision has been hijacked by anti-Israel sentiment. In April 2025 — ahead of the Basel contest — Spain and Iceland led a formal push to ban Israel altogether. The fury intensified after Israel’s entry, “New Day Will Rise,” performed by Yuval Raphael, finished second. Israel earned a mere 60 points from European juries but a staggering 297 points from the public, showing overwhelming popular support for the Israeli performance — and exposing the blatant disconnect between European elites and their own audiences.
Stung by Israel’s success, broadcasters from Spain, Iceland, Belgium, Finland, and Ireland demanded audits and questioned the voting methodology, feeding the narrative that Israel’s strong public support must somehow be illegitimate.
Even Austria’s 2025 winner, JJ, briefly joined the anti-Israel chorus by calling for Israel’s suspension — before later retreating from the controversy.
Now the battle enters its most critical phase: Will Europe succumb to the anti-Israel boycott pressure driven by Gaza politics? Or will Austria force Eurovision to uphold its own claimed values of unity, inclusion, and artistic freedom?
This December, Europe’s cultural integrity will face a defining test — and Israel once again stands at its center.
