Israel cleared to stay in Eurovision; Ireland, Spain and others quit in protest

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

61% : Israel's President Isaac Herzog thanked his country's supporters, saying he hoped the song contest would continue to champion "culture, music, friendship between nations".
60% : In Austria, which backed Israel, Eurovision fans welcomed its inclusion, even as some in Spain took the opposite view.
49% : "Israel belongs to the Eurovision Song Contest like Germany belongs to Europe," he said.
47% : " RTV Slovenija said it together with Spain, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Turkey, Algeria and Iceland requested a secret vote on Israel's participation, but it was not held.
46% : Israel was cleared on Thursday to enter the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest by the organiser, prompting Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia to withdraw over the Gaza war and plunging the competition into one of the biggest rows in its history.
44% : Golan Yochpaz, CEO of Israeli broadcaster KAN, likened the efforts to exclude Israel to a form of "cultural boycott.
42% : Israel's participation has divided opinion in the competition that has a history of entanglement in national rivalries, international issues and political voting.
41% : Ben Robertson, a Eurovision expert from fan website ESC Insight, said the contest's integrity was at its lowest ebb. "Never in the history of the contest have we had such a vote, and such a split, between the member broadcasters of the European Broadcasting Union," he said.
41% : Its 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael, was at the Nova music festival, a target of the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
38% : Germany, a major Eurovision backer, had signalled it would not take part if Israel was barred.
37% : After a meeting in Geneva, the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, decided not to call a vote on Israel's participation, saying it had instead passed new rules aimed at discouraging governments from influencing the contest.
36% : The broadcasters who had threatened to boycott the event cited the death count in Gaza and accused Israel of flouting rules meant to guard the contest's neutrality.
36% : The broadcasters who had threatened to boycott the event cited the death count in Gaza and accused Israel of flouting rules meant to guard the contest's neutrality.
31% : Israel accuses its critics of mounting a global smear campaign against it.
31% : Israel accuses its critics of mounting a global smear campaign against it.
26% : " "BORN FROM THE ASHES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR" Instead of voting on Israel, the EBU said its members backed rules intended to discourage governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to sway voters after allegations that Israel unfairly boosted its 2025 entrant.

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