Eurovision plunged into controversy as Israel allowed to perform in 2026

The European Broadcasting Union made the decision to allow Israel to perform in the Eurovision song contest next year. Now obviously, including or excluding Israel would have been controversial no matter what.

Israel has had a positive reception to the news of their acceptance, with their president Issac Herzog saying "Israel deserves to be represented on every stage around the world, a cause to which I am fully and actively committed... I hope that the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations, and cross-border cultural understanding". While Israel is happy about it, others have not been so receptive.

Many others are furious by the descision, and four countries declared previously that they would boycott Eurovision if Israel was allowed to participate: Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands. These countries' main reason for not allowing Israel to take part is due to the ongoing war in Gaza and Israeli attacks. Today, this has been fulfilled, with all four completely pulling out. This does not mean that they will be the only ones either. Currently, Iceland is considering on whether they should pull out or not. Mid-december is the deadline for countries on whether they want to participate or not, and it remains to be seen if any other countries will decide to pull out of Eurovision.