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Israel Approved for 2026 Eurovision; Spain and the Netherlands Announce Withdrawal
- On December 4, 2025 at the EBU general assembly in Geneva, members chose not to hold a formal vote and cleared Israel to participate in the 2026 contest in Vienna, Austria.
- In recent months, several national broadcasters warned they might boycott due to Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza and allegations of vote manipulation.
- To address concerns, the European Broadcasting Union adopted voting rule changes cutting votes from 20 to 10, added expert juries and bans on coordinated promotion, and required participation conditional on accepting new rules.
- Following the EBU decision, Ireland's RTE, Spain's RTVE and the Netherlands' Avrotros announced boycotts or will not broadcast Eurovision 2026 over humanitarian and values concerns.
- The EBU has asked member broadcasters to confirm participation in the coming weeks, while Austria's ORF urged a compromise and Germany warned of consequences if Israel were excluded.
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241 Articles
241 Articles
GENEVA (AP) — Four countries withdrew Thursday from next year's Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided to allow Israel to participate, highlighting how political discord has taken hold of the competition.
·Calhoun, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources241
Leaning Left48Leaning Right27Center56Last UpdatedBias Distribution43% Center
Bias Distribution
- 43% of the sources are Center
43% Center
L 37%
C 43%
R 20%
Factuality
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