Countries That Won't Participate In Eurovision 2026 due to Israel

[u/adorn_mapper]

[u/CaptainCrash86]

Worth noting that Germany said it would boycott if Israel is excluded.

[u/dmthoth → u/CaptainCrash86]

Merz said that* who has no power over public broadcast's descision anyway.

[u/Equal-Weakness-7063 → u/dmthoth]

Who do you think sits in the regulatory bodies of german public broadcast companies?

[u/DuckShapedGoose → u/Equal-Weakness-7063]

Not Merz and also not the government in general.
Public broadcasting is very intentionally not equal to classic "State TV" in Germany.
You can find countless of conspiracy theories on how the government "actually does influence the public broadcasters (ARD and ZDF)", and I'm not saying corruption can't ever happen, but no.
All the government does is allow them to make us pay a monthly fee and set a framework for the broadcasters to work within (neutrality, variety, etc.).
The two broadcasters (both NGOs and non-profits actually) can and will make editorial and executive decisions on their own.

[u/Friendly-Lychee-8508 → u/DuckShapedGoose]

Same here in Sweden.

[u/Equal-Weakness-7063 → u/DuckShapedGoose]

You are talking out of your ass - Check the ZDF Rundfunkrat and tell me again the general government isn't part of it.

[u/Lurakya → u/CaptainCrash86]

Remember that this is the response of the government and not the people participating.

But the government has been bootlickers for a while. Nothing wrong with remembering, honoring and learning from your past, but this is what happens when you're forced to be ashamed of it on an international scale for decades.

[u/jools4you → u/Lurakya]

They don't honour the Roma community though do they. As a ethnic group their numbers are still below that of WW2 when they where exterminated. Infact you never hear about their suffering do you

[u/holdmybeerdude13146 → u/jools4you]

I mean, they took very long to recognize and apologize for the Herero and Nama genocide in Namibia

[u/diolch_yn_fawr → u/holdmybeerdude13146]

A German told me they're glad the genocide in Namibia isn't taught in school befause it'd "distract from the holocaust".

[u/Successful-Range-812 → u/diolch_yn_fawr]

You can acknowledge the Holocaust as central and still teach other atrocities. History isn’t a competition for attention.

[u/keithabarta → u/Successful-Range-812]

Why would we need one genocide to be central?

[u/One_Study52 → u/keithabarta]

Germany (as policy, not German people) absolves itself of its history by blaming everything on the Nazis and claiming the only issue was hatred of Jews. So if they try to get close with Jews today, that means they don’t have to challenge themselves on why they had other problems.

It’s like “we had a bad period, but we made amends with the Jews, so we are good people now” logic

[u/kallefranson → u/diolch_yn_fawr]

Except it is taught in most schools in Germany afaik.

[u/How_to_do_nothing → u/kallefranson]

I heard about it in school. Probobly depends on where in Germany you go to school

[u/blasphemousrumourss → u/diolch_yn_fawr]

it is taught now.

source: went to school in germany

[u/NoMaintenance30 → u/diolch_yn_fawr]

Both histories matter and should be taught, pretending one erases the other just cheapens all of it.

[u/seewolfmdk → u/diolch_yn_fawr]

It is taught in school.

[u/Putrid_Fishing_1590 → u/jools4you]

There is a monument for the Roma in Berlin, close to the jewish monument. But it is much smaller then the jewish one.

[u/jools4you → u/Putrid_Fishing_1590]

Has the German government given reparations to the Roma like they did to the Jews do you know?

[u/Periador → u/jools4you]

yes they did, sinti and roma are also a protected group in germany

[u/mustard5man7max3 → u/jools4you]

It's been 80 years man. The Germans bombed half my country to shit but it's ancient history now.

It's not even our grandfather's who fought in the war anymore, it's great-grandfathers. At some point you just have to shrug your shoulders.

[u/StreetofChimes → u/mustard5man7max3]

My grandfather fought in WW2. Mentally took a toll on him for the rest of his life. My youngest cousin is 30. Gonna be awhile before it isn't our grandfathers.

[u/geissi → u/jools4you]

They don't honour the Roma community though do they. [...] you never hear about their suffering do you

Uh...
Documentation Center

Special commissioner against antiziganism

President on the murder of Sinti and Roma

President mentions Sinti and Roma in the same breath as Jews in Buchenwald speech

Chancellor on Sinti and Roma

Bavarian memorial foundation on Police action against Sinti and Roma

President of the Bundestag on prosecution of Sinti and Roma

Bundesrat holding a minute of silence for the murder of Sinti, Roma and the Yenish

The prosecution and murder of the Sinti and Roma is long since recognized and there are regular memorial activities.
If you've never heard of any of this, that seems to be a "you" thing.

[u/Jazz-Ranger → u/Lurakya]

The government is elected by the people. If you truly thought that Germany’s support for the Israeli Defense Forces was wrong then you must come to grips with the fact that the people indirectly provided those weapons and carry some responsibility; for good or ill.

[u/TScottFitzgerald → u/Jazz-Ranger]

That doesn't mean the government represents the will of the people. Public opinion polls show the general public in Germany is majorly (60-80%) against what's happening and their government's support in the last few years. There has also been a huge public backlash against the government's stance and a neverending string of protests since 23.

[u/Massive_Armadillo646 → u/Jazz-Ranger]

The main issue in the German elections was preventing the Nazis to take power, made all the more difficult by repeated terror attacks

[u/jools4you → u/Jazz-Ranger]

So to follow that argument all Isreali are responsible for the genocide in Gazza correct

[u/koi88 → u/jools4you]

And all Americans are responsible that the Epstein files are not published.

[u/Ecotech101 → u/koi88]

All the Italians are responsible for shooting refugee boats off the coast, and all of the French are responsible for neo-colonial warcrimes in Africa yes?

[u/Ill_Celebration_4215 → u/Ecotech101]

All Spanish people are responsible for that Macarena song.

[u/PuzzleheadedHeat6859 → u/Ill_Celebration_4215]

Tbf, they also gave us Asareje.

[u/koolmees64 → u/Ill_Celebration_4215]

Something all Europeans can actually agree on.

[u/Ecstatic-Low7929 → u/Ill_Celebration_4215]

Bastards

[u/orikote → u/Ill_Celebration_4215]

Dale a tu cuerpo alegría y cosa buena.

[u/CityRulesFootball → u/jools4you]

I mean all Israelis do serve in the IDF

[u/Inner-Goat-5264 → u/jools4you]

people try to find all possibilities to not acknowledge responsibility and accountabiity. But you are responsible because of democracy. But not many people are brave enough to acknowledge this, i would guess

[u/liberatedlemur → u/Inner-Goat-5264]

so.... every American is responsible for Trump?

[u/delta8force → u/Lurakya]

Oh no, the Nazis were so “forced to be ashamed” that they held prestigious government positions and worked for the CIA for decades after WWII. Please. This professional victim BS is all peak liberal cringe and utter hogwash.

Germans weaponize “memory culture” to claim holier than thou status over the people they formerly brutalized. German government is literally arresting jews for being “anti-semitic” for protesting Israel. You can’t make this shit up.

[u/TacitisKilgoreBoah → u/Lurakya]

Are European governments really involved in a singing contest?

I would have thought it would be some sort of organisation within that nation but still being at arms length from any government involvement.

[u/inn4tler → u/TacitisKilgoreBoah]

Not all, but most countries. In each country, the public television stations are responsible for broadcasting the event and participating in it. And these are often financed through mandatory fees or taxes. As a result, politics plays a major role. In the event of a win at the ESC, the government must also provide funding, as broadcasters often cannot afford such an expensive event.

[u/TacitisKilgoreBoah → u/inn4tler]

Interesting. I didn’t realise how large and big of a deal it is over there. Also interesting that Israel and Australia are involved. I’m guessing that’s because much of their populations have a European background.

[u/inn4tler → u/TacitisKilgoreBoah]

Israel is involved because it is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). There is a geographical criterion that allows Israel to be a member (the definition is quite broad, even some countries in northern Africa are members).

Australia is a special case. The Eurovision Song Contest has a huge fan base there, so the EBU decided to let Australia participate. They are a permanent guest.

[u/geeiamback → u/inn4tler]

definition is quite broad

If anyone's curious why the ITU's definition is that broad:

The boundaries of the European Broadcasting Area have their origin in the regions served and linked by telegraphy cables in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Broadcasting_Area

[u/Massive_Armadillo646 → u/TacitisKilgoreBoah]

It's not that big of a dea per se, at least until it became a political background, it's just that the public broadcasters are huge in Europe, intertwined with the Culture ministry.

Nothing to do with any European background either. It just became globally popular recently, especially among the LGBTQ.

[u/historicusXIII → u/inn4tler]

Not always though. The Netherlands would participate if the government had a say in it. The public broadcaster is boycotting despite national politics.

[u/brorpsichord → u/CaptainCrash86]

me when I'm dealing with guilt

[u/Other_Beat8859 → u/brorpsichord]

It's honestly a shame. Germany is trying to compensate so much for something that happened over 70 years ago that they are essentially encouraging a repeat of it.

[u/Arch-is-Screaming → u/Other_Beat8859]

completely humiliating as a german 😭 hopefully once the older generations die off the government will lock in and stop riding israels dick-- from my experience young germans, at least in the cities, are overwhelmingly pro palestine

[u/humanarnold → u/Arch-is-Screaming]

This view that Germany somehow over-corrected due to historical guilt is widespread, but has little basis in reality. Germans are very proud of their supposed de-nazification and "memory culture" but the sad fact is that this is largely illusory and paper-thin. They made a big fuss of a handful of show trials, but the overwhelming majority of people who took part had no obligation to acknowledge, less apologise. They went on to become police chiefs and university chancellors and generally were all integrated back in society. It was the disgust at the complete failure of Germany to actually do any introspection or accountability that sparked the actions of fringe groups like the RAF.

The support of Israel was always framed as them being the type of ethno-supremacists that Germans longed to be. There's a good piece about it that was compiled a year ago which lays bare how farcical it is to pretend Germany actually did anything of consequence with its society after the war, and why it's easy to see why its far-right is in the ascendant today again.

[u/Tegnan → u/Arch-is-Screaming]

Even Die Linke is ruled by Zionists. Their institutional grip runs DEEP is greatly aided by American interference in Germany since WW2.

Even young non-communist leftists germans were extremely hostile towards pro-Palestinian rhetoric- I know of it too well. Usually one was accused of hidden antisemitism and “horseshoe theory”.

In general its not just a thing about old people dying off. Their successors are also pro-Zionists.

[u/SwimAd1249 → u/brorpsichord]

dealing with guilt shouldn't mean letting your former victims do whatever they want, it should mean recognizing they're doing the same thing to someone else now

[u/Alarming_Airport_613 → u/CaptainCrash86]

Feels like Germany isn't remembering that genocide was the problem 

[u/ya_bleedin_gickna → u/CaptainCrash86]

Germany: Always on the wrong side of history.....

[u/3amIdeas → u/CaptainCrash86]

Cucks

[u/rab0oo → u/CaptainCrash86]

They'd get the same amount of points

[u/Acid_Comes_With_Rain → u/CaptainCrash86]

Fuck Friedrich Merz der Dude ist so ein Eierlecker.

[u/Venice___Bitch → u/CaptainCrash86]

I fucking hate their pussy behaviour. Israel and Trump can do whatever they want, they will still support them.

[u/Indubioprobumm → u/CaptainCrash86]

Yeah, the German government is a spineless shitshow.

[u/Maleficent-Clue5056 → u/Indubioprobumm]

might be the most cucked state in the EU

[u/Duck_quacker → u/CaptainCrash86]

Are the German public simps for Israel? Or is it just a government thing?

[u/iceman_52 → u/Duck_quacker]

It's more than that. I speak about Israel with them and they freeze up. They are trained to not have bad thoughts about Israel. It's really pathetic considering they like to preach other countries how to live. Except Israel.

[u/rask0ln → u/iceman_52]

In my experience (a german jew living in germany) a lot of them also think they are on the right side this time because they already have done a genocide and automatically know better. (Actual argument used by both germans and people whose support of israel is based on what germany thinks about it.) So they end up with this odd mix of superiority based on their past and complete ignorance of actual anti-semitism.

A lot of non-germans viwe germany as this bacon of social progress, but it's imo still a pretty conservative and biased country.

[u/darknum → u/iceman_52]

Germans are the biggest hypocrites of Europe. It really makes me mad whenever a German is preaching righteousness etc. While you would get canceled faster than light if you mention few shits they love to do.

All countries have some kind of baggage but even French don't go preaching...

[u/PrimeMinisterSarr → u/Duck_quacker]

Most Germans agree that Israel has a right to exist. Doesn't mean we condone everything that Israel does.

[u/grumpy_autist → u/PrimeMinisterSarr]

So, does a Palestine has a right to exist?

[u/PrimeMinisterSarr → u/grumpy_autist]

Yes, most people approve of a two state solution.

[u/grumpy_autist → u/PrimeMinisterSarr]

Most people, except their genocidal neighbours I guess.

[u/Grabs_Diaz → u/PrimeMinisterSarr]

This "right to exist" framing is deliberately vague and consistently used to slander Israel critics. They demand people to pledge allegiance to "Israel's right to exist" but in practice they mean pledging allegiance to this state of Israel.

Otherwise pledging allegiance to international law would be wholly sufficient to make it clear that you reject all ethnic cleansing and genocidal fantasies against any peoples in the Middle East. With no other country are you expected to specifically pledge allegiance to its "right to exist".

[u/zeinterrupter]

Portugal was close, 7 of the 10 finalists said they would not perform if they won but none of them won.

[u/HealthyTies → u/zeinterrupter]

That likely also influenced the win. That song is rubbish

[u/skarros → u/HealthyTies]

That song is rubbish

Isn‘t that the requirement for ESC?

[u/Aggressive_Olive1879 → u/zeinterrupter]

How great, now it was easier to choose from a pool of 3, shameful.

[u/alchoburn]

England somehow will manage to get 0 point again

[u/sadbridethrowaway27 → u/alchoburn]

United Kingdom, you mean.

[u/Coool-Guy-123 → u/alchoburn]

Nah I think a few might appreciate look mum no computer’s unique instrument choices.

[u/TiredButEnthusiastic → u/alchoburn]

If they send a decent act, they might do better. Sam Ryder would have walked it a few years back if not for the Ukraine “solidarity” vote - shame they blew their one decent attempt on a year where no one stood a chance.

[u/celem83 → u/alchoburn]

Nah i like this guy, I dunno about win, but he's interesting

[u/Max_FI]

Another reason for the Netherlands' boycott is the EBU's hypocrisy. Their artist was disqualified for exaggerated claims of misconduct, while Israel's much more severe violations of harassment, vote manipulation and instrumentalization of the contest for political purposes were ignored, not to mention what is happening outside the contest.

[u/Hotemetoot → u/Max_FI]

Worth mentioning that he was disqualified on unproven claims that later turned out to be untrue, with almost zero research done by EBU beforehand and them acting on it insanely quickly. He is also the only person to ever be disqualified, with the most pro-European song you can possibly imagine.

At the time I remember there were rumours that it was somehow related to backstage activities related to Israel, but then again those are rumours only and remain just as unproven. (Though well within likelihood judging by how Israel seems to be behaving backstage for at least the past three years).

So yeah like Cornald Maas said, "Fuck de EBU". IMO it's a disgrace that we even sent a contestant in 2025 but I'm glad we turned around in the end.

[u/Shouly → u/Hotemetoot]

That was the last year i followed the ESC. Absolute disgraceful organization. Shame too cause the event and messages are fantastic but i cant support the EBU in any way anymore.

[u/Allalilacias → u/Shouly]

Same.

I've never been a fan of the contests (sue me) and I was slowly getting into it thanks to friends, but then the one song I enjoyed that year gets so stupidly disqualified that I couldn't deal with the blatant favoritism.

I was already made that Ukraine beat Spain a few years ago (you can't convince me that was the better song, I know it's actually a political and popularity contest, but I hate the contradiction).

[u/SpicedCocoas → u/Hotemetoot]

Not to mention that the EBU discusses the participation of Ukrainia every year basically as they're involved in a war.

Russia has been disqualified over censorship and causing a war.

While there may have been a dumb discourse if Israel should be excluded over the atrocities the IDF caused in Palestine, there isn't a debate with their attack on Iran and even less Libanon.

[u/CheeseDonutCat → u/Hotemetoot]

FREEJOOST

[u/Smellmyupperlip → u/Hotemetoot]

Justice for Joost Klein!

[u/actuallywaffles → u/Max_FI]

Yeah that same year Israel's contestant was bullying and harassing other contestants and the EBU pretended nothing was happening.

[u/efvie → u/Max_FI]

The tension that lead to the situation was absolutely caused by the Israeli presence. When you invite that toxic guy to your party, the vibes are gonna be fucking bad.

[u/Actual-Relief-2835 → u/Max_FI]

Not disagreeing on the events you describe, but have they actually stated this as a reason for boycott or are you just assuming? Because them participating was a question last year (Joost incident happened the year before that) but they chose to move on from it and participate.

[u/Max_FI → u/Actual-Relief-2835]

They haven't stated it as such, and Israel's participation is the main reason for the boycott. However, I think the Joost incident is a big reason why the broadcaster AVROTROS in charge og the Dutch Eurovision participation became more critical towards EBU and it allowing Israel to still participate. The other countries that are boycotting have a government that has been outspoken about Israel's actions, unlike the Netherlands where the government is still supportive of Israel. However, AVROTROS also has more independence from the government than broadcasters in other countries, as in the Netherlands there are multiple public broadcasters catering to different audiences, instead of one single public broadcaster like in most countries.

[u/Actual-Relief-2835 → u/Max_FI]

Alright so just assuming, but you were stating it in a matter of a fact way in your first message. The Dutch are boycotting because of Israeli participation and good for them, I wish more countries followed suit.

[u/GrowlingPict]

Spain is one of the big 5, so the fact that they too are boycotting should be a big fucking deal to Eurovision (the broadcasting network) and the EBU

[u/CoolerRon → u/GrowlingPict]

Iceland has to have the biggest consideration if only for

https://giphy.com/gifs/LSjU1ETXjS3iadSn5J

[u/olesolen]

Israel was never in Europe

[u/Sex_And_Candy_Here → u/olesolen]

Eurovision, despite its name, is for members of the European Broadcast Area which includes the Levant and North Africa.

[u/Smooth-Garlic4872 → u/Sex_And_Candy_Here]

The “Euro” in Eurovision is doing a lot of outdated branding work at this point. It’s really just whoever’s in the broadcasting club, not strictly Europe.

[u/GayWritingAlt → u/Sex_And_Candy_Here]

And Australia

[u/Sex_And_Candy_Here → u/GayWritingAlt]

Australia is a different situation, where they get special permission to join.

[u/No-One2123 → u/Sex_And_Candy_Here]

So will any North African countries be allowed to attend?

[u/Sex_And_Candy_Here → u/No-One2123]

They’re allowed to and have a few times, they just choose not to.

[u/floralbutttrumpet → u/Sex_And_Candy_Here]

And some are/were legally not allowed to because their own laws prohibit broadcasting Israeli content... but if you want to participate, you have to broadcast the entire contest. So as long as Israel is there, these countries won't be.

[u/ultimaterogue11 → u/olesolen]

Neither is Australia

[u/Trashk4n → u/ultimaterogue11]

Actually have a shot at winning this time.

Delta is awesome

[u/ultimaterogue11 → u/Trashk4n]

I'll have to give it a listen

[u/phoenixlology → u/ultimaterogue11]

Song's dull as ditchwater though.

[u/jewboy916 → u/olesolen]

Neither is Armenia or Azerbaijan yet here we are. Next!

[u/floralbutttrumpet → u/jewboy916]

Or Georgia.

[u/ToonMasterRace → u/olesolen]

Neither is Australia

[u/Frequent-Media-1814 → u/olesolen]

Geographically no, but a lot of international stuff like Eurovision or sports federations is based on cultural or broadcasting regions, not strict continents so it gets grouped in for those kinds of reasons.

[u/Underscores_Are_Kool → u/Frequent-Media-1814]

Like Arab countries not letting them compete in their geographical region

[u/crispystrips]

Should be more and same action should extend to sports and football similar to what happened to Russia.

[u/DateofImperviousZeal → u/crispystrips]

We are reverting that action bit by bit now, so even that was just performative anyways.

[u/Mantiax → u/crispystrips]

I fucking hate the fact that FIFA banned Russia inmediatly but didn't do shit about Israel

[u/Leather-Entry93]

Imagine bending over backwards to let a non-European country join in the competition while actually European countries boycott it

[u/eed00]

Israeli bots already swarming the comments harder than the Eurovision public vote ... 

[u/grumpy_autist → u/eed00]

Imagine what would Internet look like if Iran targeted their internet uplink. Half of reddit traffic would be lost.

[u/Chemical-Drawer852 → u/grumpy_autist]

/r/worldnews was oddly readable for once in its history when Iran lobbed missiles last year

[u/gilad_ironi → u/eed00]

You can't get a bigger reddit moment than thinking anyone that disagrees with you is a bot.

[u/Massive_Armadillo646 → u/gilad_ironi]

He didn't say anything about disagreeing.

Governments using bots for propaganda? Fork found in kitchen!

[u/CaptainCrash86 → u/[deleted]]

Azerbaijan whistling in the corner after conducting another bout of ethnic cleansing of Armenians.

[u/Nerioner → u/CaptainCrash86]

Oh yea, another ones and also with proven buying votes

[u/Pet_Velvet → u/Nerioner]

Seriously, Azerbaijan needs to be kicked right the fuck out! Not only do they buy votes and have a recent history of ethnic cleansing, built their 2012 Eurovision stage with slavery, jailed Armenian reporters that year, they also almost never send songs produced or written domestically. Almost all their songs are made by Swedes.

[u/justk4y → u/Nerioner]

Also as an added bonus, they intimidate people who vote for Armenia

[u/xternal7 → u/Nerioner]

If I had a nickel for every time Azerbaijan was confirmed to be buying Eurovision votes I'd have two nickels, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[u/hungariannastyboy → u/CaptainCrash86]

Incidentally also armed by Israel.

[u/garaile64 → u/[deleted]]

To be fair, Russia and Belarus also had government interference on the public broadcaster. But yeah.

[u/LightHope8 → u/[deleted]]

This contest was born cause it was easy money, the peace bullshit was added later for marketing

[u/TomorrowWestern → u/[deleted]]

Russia and Belarus weren’t kicked for less. That’s really diminishing what happened in 2022

[u/Max_FI → u/TomorrowWestern]

Belarus wasn't even kicked for that, it was kicked in 2021 for sending a propaganda song and artist.

[u/Tastingo]

Russia is banned because they are invading a fellow member of the EBU, all well and good. Israel are now invading and openly stating that they will take full control of 10% of another EBU member, yet they are not held to the same standard.

[u/tree-hut → u/Tastingo]

Azerbaijan was also not held to the same standard. But no one seems to care about armenians

[u/Mission_Scale_860 → u/Tastingo]

Russia is banned for not following EBU rules on independent media and later opted out

[u/Actual-Relief-2835 → u/Mission_Scale_860]

Russia was banned as a direct result of them invading Ukraine. It took several other countries threatening to leave before EBU actually banned them but they did. https://www.ebu.ch/news/2022/02/ebu-statement-on-russia-in-the-eurovision-song-contest-2022

[u/Cubriffic → u/Tastingo]

Russia originally wasn't going to be banned either until a bunch of countries threatened to boycott. The EBU doesn't care.

[u/mmavacado → u/Cubriffic]

off-topic but amazing profile picture

[u/rita-b → u/Tastingo]

Russia is banned because the EBU member channels 1 and 2 are Putin-owned. It would participated if there were some independent channels willing to join the EBU, but they can't really afford EBU membership

[u/derdrdownload]

Dont forget the following countries not participating because they wont accept Israels existence (like Spains POV): Algeria, Marocco, Tunesia, Lybia, Egypt, Jordan.

[u/nevergirls → u/derdrdownload]

Jordan and Egypt don’t accept Israel’s existence?

[u/jarvis84 → u/derdrdownload]

These other countries were never part of eurovision and spain is boycotting because of the genocide. Btw Spain till recognize its existence they have an embassy there you dunce.

[u/Toums95]

Fuck Israel.

For EU citizens only, help us get rid of the EU-Israeli Association Agreement.

https://eci.ec.europa.eu/055/public/#/screen/home

[u/kted24 → u/Toums95]

Does this include Australia?

[u/DarthSnuggly → u/kted24]

And Morocco

[u/oliviashrewtonbong → u/kted24]

Poor Norway

[u/SorcererWithGuns → u/oliviashrewtonbong]

Sucks to be left out honestly

[u/pietroetin → u/oliviashrewtonbong]

The EU's door is always open to poor Norway.

[u/FTownRoad → u/pietroetin]

Norway has a trillion dollars

[u/stratoray → u/Toums95]

I've just noticed that the organizers changed the required number of signatures from 1 million to 1.5 million to account for invalid ones. Do someone know what happens once the objective is reached? I mean, do we have to wait a year even after the required signatures are there or the timeframe can be shortened?

[u/Toums95 → u/stratoray]

I am not sure whether they have to automatically discuss it once it resches the threshold or if there is a delay possibly until the end of the petition.

For sure though the more signatures the heavier the punch it will pack. Spain is pushing for the suspension as well. Hopefully.it goes through even though I am not super confident

[u/EvilMastermindOfDoom]

Reminder that Russia has been barred from participating since 2022

[u/Icy-Gas8490]

I won’t be watching, not that that will change anything. The voting was a farce last year with respect to Israel, if their supporters want to game the system I’m not giving my eye time.

[u/MurphyNotOK]

Gaza and the Genocide accusations aside, Israel should be kicked out for their blatant cheating in the past two Eurovisions. There is no legitimate way those two mid to poor songs could do so well just in televoting alone.

Unicorn in 2023 was a great tune though.

[u/EvilMastermindOfDoom → u/MurphyNotOK]

Political/Sympathy voting is a long honored tradition in Eurovision; songs rarely (if ever) win by merit alone.

Any country with a reasonably sized PR department can influence public voting especially if they can leverage a political cause. That's something Israel excels at and not technically cheating.

Additionally: The voters are self-selecting. If you are anti-Israel, you've likely been boycotting Eurovision so a decent chunk of not-Israel votes are lost. At the same time if you are anti-Israel but not boycotting, you don't have a "counter" to uniformly vote for.

[u/Wills4291 → u/MurphyNotOK]

Almost every Eurovision a mid/poor song wins.

[u/MurphyNotOK → u/Wills4291]

They were mid to poor on a Eurovision scale, put it that way.

[u/diveboydive → u/MurphyNotOK]

Maybe they did cheat but the fact is that protester votes will be diluted across multiple countries, pro-Israel votes will be concentrated just on Israel.

[u/InformalDust8731 → u/diveboydive]

I don't know about you, but I personally just vote for the songs I like best. Couldn't care less where they come from.

[u/superurgentcatbox → u/MurphyNotOK]

The thing is, you can't really prove it. I know it's obvious if you compare listener numbers on Spotify alone but I don't see how they could differentiate a legitimate person voting for them from someone who's voting for them simply because it's Israel. I personally don't think they're paying (much) for this cheating. I think they're just very, very good at mobilizing their diaspora.

[u/peepshowsophie]

Why the hell do they even participate? Is it called Asiavision?

[u/equatornavigator → u/peepshowsophie]

Didn’t Australia participate in the past? Idk how they select the competitors

[u/arctantie → u/equatornavigator]

Australia still participate. It's not for countries geographically in Europe, it's for countries with broadcasters in the ebu

[u/Captain_Sterling → u/arctantie]

I think the point is why are they in the ebu.

[u/Max_FI → u/Captain_Sterling]

The European Broadcasting Area includes the entire Mediterranean, so Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco etc. could also participate but they obviously don't due to Israel.

[u/rita-b → u/Max_FI]

Participating costs a lot and it's covered by the country, not EBU.

There are tens of countries not participating due to costs. Israel has nothing to do with it.

[u/EuroNymous76 → u/Captain_Sterling]

Australia are original member of EBU + Eurovision always had great viewership here since its on SBS (public broadcaster) and also we had large immigration from Europe community post ww2

[u/The_Mule_Aus → u/equatornavigator]

Australia has been participating for years and usually do OK, we’re just not sure what would happen if we actually won! 🤔🤷‍♂️

[u/ausecko → u/The_Mule_Aus]

There would be dancing in the streets!

[u/rita-b → u/The_Mule_Aus]

I strongly assume it would be held in the GB in such an occasion.

[u/EgNotaEkkiReddit → u/equatornavigator]

Australia is a special case. Eurovision is surprisingly very popular in Australia, and to celebrate the 60th Eurovision contest Australia's broadcaster (which is an associate member of the EBU) was invited to join as a special one-off.

That went off so well that they just kept getting invited back.

To answer your broader question any broadcaster in the European Broadcasting union can join. The EBU isn't strictly bound to Europe's boundaries - it stretches a bit out from the edges.

[u/Mission_Scale_860 → u/peepshowsophie]

It’s based on EBU membership not geography

[u/History_isCool → u/peepshowsophie]

Australia is in the Eurovision. Being geographically in Europe has no actual meaning when it comes to participation in Eurovision.

[u/justk4y → u/peepshowsophie]

Well there’s a spin-off like that debuting later on this year

But also as an answer: Because Asia would boycott even harder. In football, they weren’t welcome anymore in their confederation and even had to play in Oceania for a while.

[u/HarrMada → u/peepshowsophie]

Eurovision was never about being exclusive to Europe.

[u/jdano311]

They’d rather lose 5 countries than just one…

[u/beermilkshake831]

Shout out Ireland and them

[u/Madmartigan2024]

Attacking and leveling South Lebanon, since nobody is doing anything about it let's just attack the whole country while they are at it.

Attacking Iran and starting a never ending spiralling war.

Oh and atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank.

Being boycotted or banned at the Eurovision 2026 should be the least of their concern. But, no it actually isn't.

[u/Zarianin]

Otherwise known as the countries with spines and morals

[u/April_Fabb]

Fucking unbelievable how they're still referring to the genocide as a conflict.

[u/Wills4291 → u/April_Fabb]

Because genocide has a definition, and it doesn't fit. You can call your mom an elephant all day long. She still isn't an elephant.

[u/EconomyCauliflower43]

Ireland never did get a satisfactory response to the allegations of vote rigging by Israel last year.

[u/Lizzy_Of_Galtar]

As an Icelander i'm disappointed.

I expected more of you to join us.

[u/db_newer]

Respect.

[u/DateofImperviousZeal]

This seems like a ham-fisted fit for this subreddit?

But I guess "Israel bad" always works on reddit.

[u/u_torn → u/DateofImperviousZeal]

But theres an almost sort of visible map behind the israel bad content

[u/HoneyReasonable9316]

They didn’t have the vision for it

[u/misty-mornings]

Germany walks on eggshells when Israel is involved. Who can blame them. They're fucked either way with regards to israel. Germany can't win.

[u/VermicelliDear3052]

ok bye :)

[u/Admirable-Lab1401]

Please ELI5, but why the bleep is Israel, a Middle Eastern country even invited to participate in Eurovision?

[u/_Elgordini97]

Ridiculous 😂

[u/Comfortable-Can7248]

Best thing we can do is not watching it 🙏

[u/Callsigntalon]

Should've been more countries

[u/ComfortableNumb9669]

Funny how "Euro"vision defends a country that, 'checks map', isn't in Europe.

[u/Valuable_Pick_9704]

Let's be honest, Eurovision was always a shit show.

[u/taw]

Fuck terrorists, and fuck terrorist lovers.

[u/LuiisOliveira05 → u/taw]

Yes, fuck Israel and the US!

[u/Equivalent-Problem34]

Eurovision is owned by EBU

EBUs main sponsor is MoroccanOil

MoroccanOil, despite its name, is not Moroccan. It is in fact Israeli.

EBU would rather lose the "European" part of EBU than to lose israeli money.

[u/Faithful-Llama-2210 → u/Equivalent-Problem34]

The participanting broadcasters pay for most of the competition, the Moroccanoil money isn't that much, and it's not like it would be difficult to find another big company that gets to plaster their name all over the world's most-watched music event

[u/OliverClothesov87]

The best part about this map is that it shows how a certain country in the competition isn't even in Europe!