Four Countries Boycott Eurovision 2026 After Israel Allowed to Compete - GreekReporter.com

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

46% : Israel was cleared on Thursday to enter the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest by the organizer, 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.
45% : "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.
43% : Israel's participation has divided opinion in the competition that has a history of entanglement in national rivalries, international issues and political voting, Reuters notes.
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.
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.
31% : Israel accuses its critics of mounting a global smear campaign against it.

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