13h ago

European broadcasters to vote on expelling Israel from Eurovision 2026

www.theguardian.com

European Broadcasting Union says vote required after several nations threaten potential boycott

Eurovision Song Contest @lemmy.world

ctry21 @sh.itjust.works

1d ago

European broadcasters to vote on expelling Israel from Eurovision 2026

www.theguardian.com /tv-and-radio/2025/sep/25/european-broadcasters-to-vote-on-expelling-israel-from-eurovision-2026

Eurovision Song Contest @europe.pub

nocturne @piefed.social

1d ago

European broadcasters to vote on expelling Israel from Eurovision 2026

www.theguardian.com /tv-and-radio/2025/sep/25/european-broadcasters-to-vote-on-expelling-israel-from-eurovision-2026

19 comments

If the vote fails, it's up to the viewers to boycott the whole thing.
- That's easy, the contest is pure garbage.
  
  it's just a bit of light hearted fun.
  That's why genocidal countries should not be given a platform..
  
  It's post-irony, internationalism and stupid songs, so I'm always surprised when people my age don't get it. I don't know, maybe you're a bit older?
- Yes but at the same time do brace yourself for having them “win” by having the most public vote again, the genocide supporters will be watching and voting.
  
  You mean the most funds for purchasing votes and the most “fans” willing to vote in multiple countries, multiple times.
I didn't know that Isreal was in Europe.
- Australia right now.
- It's not, it's in the European broadcasting union. Armenia and Algeria are also member. Australia (kangaroo) also participates in the Songfestival.
  
  I mean algeria and armenia have much more right than israel. Idk about australia tho, but they only submit their funky psychedelic songs usually so i would allow it.
- Much like the rest of Eurovision, it doesn't make much sense.
  See also: Australia. Though their 2023 entry was an absolute banger to be fair.
  
  It makes perfect sense. The EBU covers the ITU European Broadcasting Area, which extends to the40th meridian and 30th parallel. This definition of Europe is based on the practicalities of radiocommunication propagation and historical telegraph routes rather than current political boundaries.
I expect there to be an expert panel who will take up 50% of the votes. The rest is for the broadcasters.
Also if anything looks suspicious or maybe potentially unfavourable, they can assign votes to broadcasters as they would have expected them to vote.
Wasn't this how it went a few years when they suspected a handful of nations to have coordinated their voting?
For me personally there being a pro-israeli contestant isn't enough to boycott or ban them from participating. I can see how for some people the large israeli sponsors might be enough to boycott or ban them. But for me what really does it is the political effort to gather votes for the israeli candidate - they've put out ads to get people to vote for israel, especially targeting people who normally wouldn't watch it. There is plenty of social media posts of people saying they voted for israel 20 times and not having seen a single thing except maybe a performance on youtube. Manipulating the vote is a gross violation of the rules and Israel should be punished for that.
The major players and who also pay most to the European Broadcast Union and Eurovision, the big five Germany, UK, Spain, France, Italy, Spain will be decisive. Spain is the only one of those that would support an exclusion of Israel. Germany, France, and UK are unlikely to do that.

19 comments