Eurovision Host Says It Will Not Drown Out Any Boos During Israel's Performance

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : ORF Director General Roland Weissmann visited Israel in November to show his support.
61% : ISRAEL PARTICIPATING The broadcaster will not drown out the sound of any booing from the crowd, as happened this year during Israel's performance, ORF's director of programming Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz said.
56% : The host broadcaster of the next Eurovision Song Contest, Austria's ORF, will not ban the Palestinian flag from the audience or drown out booing during Israel's performance as has happened at previous shows, organisers said on Tuesday.
55% : This year's show drew around 166 million viewers, according to the European Broadcasting Union, more than the roughly 128 million who Nielsen estimates watched the Super Bowl.
46% : Israel's 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael, was at the Nova music festival that was a target of the Hamas-led attack.
44% : The 70th edition of the contest in May will have just 35 entries, the smallest number of participants since 2003, after five national broadcasters including those of Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands ⁠said they would boycott the show in protest at Israel's participation.
40% : What is usually a celebration of national diversity, pop music and high camp has become embroiled in diplomatic strife, with those boycotting saying it would be unconscionable to take part given the number of civilians killed in Gaza as part of Israel's retaliation to the October 7 attack by Hamas in 2023.
39% : ORF and the Austrian government were among the biggest supporters of Israel participating over the objections of countries including Iceland and Slovenia, which will also boycott the next contest in protest.
36% : The CEO of Israeli broadcaster KAN had likened the efforts to exclude Israel in 2026 to a form of "cultural boycott".
36% : Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.
33% : The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel.

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