Spain Says It Will Boycott Eurovision 2026 if Israel Takes Part

by Roy Brindley, 26 September 2025

Five countries, including ‘big five’ Spain, say they are prepared to boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.

JJ earned Austria the right to host the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest. Now, the question is, who will take part if Israel does? © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• Spain, a ‘big five’ Eurovision country, will miss the 2026 show if Israel takes part.
• Four other countries have taken the same stance. Two more say they are ‘sympathetic’.
• Bookmakers have suspended betting on the popular annual competition.
• Similarly, the UN is also urging FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football.

If Israel participates in the show, Spain, a ‘big five’ Eurovision country, will miss the 2026 edition of the enormously popular competition. Its ‘big five’ status means the country is normally automatically fast-tracked to the final.

While Spain has finished in the bottom 20 in eight of the past ten years, the nation takes Eurovision more seriously than most countries. State broadcaster, RTVE, organises and televises Benidorm Fest to select its act using a jury and audience vote.

Spain is not the first country to declare it will not send an act to Austria next May should Israel be amongst the entries in the 70th edition of the show. The Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, and Slovenia have made announcements that have had the same effect.

However, the withdrawal of Spain, as a ‘big five’ nation alongside France, Germany, Italy and the UK – a status based on their major financial contribution to the European Broadcasting Union and the event itself – could have serious repercussions.

Contest Carries Significant Political Implications

“As joint organisers of the Eurovision song contest, we share a collective responsibility,” said José Pablo López, the head of Spain’s state broadcasting station, after RTVE’s board voted to withdraw from the 2026 event in Vienna.

“While Israel has regularly participated in the competition, the current events and the genocide currently taking place make it impossible for us to look the other way,” López added.

“It is not accurate to claim that Eurovision is merely an apolitical music festival. We are all aware that the contest carries significant political implications. The Israeli government is equally aware of this fact and leverages the event on the international stage.”

A Second Rift Is on the Cards

The Reuters news agency has reported that the Austrian Foreign Minister, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, has written to officials at the countries threatening to boycott Eurovision 2026, stating she was concerned about boycotts creating division and not improving the situation in Gaza.

“As foreign minister of the host country, I am deeply concerned about the risk of a rift between the members of the European Broadcasting Union on this issue,” she wrote in a letter that the Reuters news agency had seen.

“Such a rift would only deepen the discord and preclude opportunities for important dialogue between artists and the public – without improving the situation on the ground in Israel and Gaza,” Meinl-Reisinger added.

Conflict Is a Proven Eurovision Vote Winner

In an ironic twist, Austrian singer JJ, who, in claiming 2025’s event (with the Israeli act finishing second), gave his country the lucrative right to stage 2026’s contest, has also called for Israel’s exclusion.

Conflict has proven a surefire vote winner in recent Eurovision history. When Austria won 2025’s contest, it did so despite receiving no ’12-point’ maximum scores from televoting countries. Concurrently, while ignored by national juries, at-war Israel won the maximum votes from the televoters of 13 countries.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Televoters from 28 countries gave the war-torn Ukrainian nation its 12-point maximum score. While the country would go on to win that year’s competition by a considerable margin, Eurovision devotees have described its successful song as the worst winner in 25 years.

Israeli Presence Is Also a World Cup Sticking Point

In addition to Spain, Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland and Slovenia, Belgium and Iceland are other countries that have made mumblings about a potential 2026 Eurovision boycott. In light of recent developments, it must be considered likely that other countries follow their lead.

Placing further pressure on Israel, this week the United Nations called on the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and UEFA to suspend Israel as a country team from international football, “as a necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

So far, with Israel’s qualification unlikely, their chances slim, and boycotts unlikely, online betting sites have not made any significant changes to the 2026 World Cup betting.

However, bookmakers have suspended their markets on the winner of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest. 2025 favourites, Sweden, Italy and France, were at the top of the betting before Spain’s shock announcement.