Countries to boycott Eurovision over Israel inclusion | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we take a deeper look at. one of the stories making the headlines. Hello, I'm Jenna Jalil, and today we're. looking at why several countries, including Spain and Ireland, are. boycotting next year's Eurovvision Song. Contest in protest at Israel's. participation. And I'm joined on the. line by our music correspondent, Mark. Savage. Mark, this is supposed to be a. joyous occasion, but now Eurovvision is. instead facing its biggest ever. political crisis.

>> Yes, it does feel like the countries. that make up Eurovvision are in complete. disarray over their varying positions on. whether Israel should be part of the. contest or not. And this is something. that has been brewing for several years. now. Ever since the Hamas attacks on the. 7th of October and Israel's subsequent. invasion of Gaza, there have been. protests outside the contest, both in. the Swedish edition in 2024 and in. Switzerland in 2025. And there were even. protesters who tried to get up on the.

stage during this year's show and throw. paint over the Israeli contestant Uval. Raphael. The countries who take part, some of them are very much in support of. Israel being part of it, highlighting. the fact that this is supposed to be a. contest about unity and harmony between. nations and not a political event. Germany, in fact, said that if anybody. voted to exclude Israel from future. contests, then it would pull out. But. what we've had instead is a vote for. Israel to remain and several countries,

including some of the most successful. Eurovvision nations of all time, saying. they will boycott in Vienna in 2026. >> And this boycott isn't just about Gaza. It's also about media freedom. >> That's right. I mean, there's a couple. of things going on here. One of the. things that Israel was accused of at the. 2025 contest was of trying to tip the. scales in favor of their contestant. Uh. there was a government-f funed campaign.

on social media and on YouTube to. encourage people outside Israel to cast. all 20 of the votes that were available. to Israel's act. Uh and that did seem to. have some sort of influence. Yuval. Raphael topped the public vote with more. points than anybody else. Whereas her. song was not considered the best by the. professional songwriting juries who take. part in Eurovvision and came somewhere. more in the mid table. The end result. when you combined those two votes was. that she came second. But Israel has. often seen Eurovision as a way of.

promoting its image internationally. Soft power as you might call it. They. present the best possible version of. themselves on stage as do most countries. at Eurovvision. I mean look at the. example of Ukraine uh following the. Russian invasion. They really really. stepped up their game at Eurovvision and. used that as a way to try and get other. countries on side. So the idea that. Eurovvision is free of politics is. really not that true. And those state. broadcasters like Slovenia, which are. boycotting next year's contest, they're.

saying if Russia could be barred after. its fullscale invasion of Ukraine, then. surely the same should apply to Israel. given the high level of deaths in Gaza. since the the war began. >> That's right. That is their argument. And the EBU, which organizes. Eurovvision, says it is sympathetic to. that. But the real reason that Russia. was kicked out of Eurovvision a couple. of years ago after invading Ukraine was. that its state broadcaster had violated. the terms and conditions of its.

membership. What the EBU says is that. KN, which is the Israeli state. broadcaster, has abided by the rules uh. and has been a fair competitor at the. contest for many many years. Israel have. won four times. uh and one of the. concerns of people who support Israel's. continuing presence in the competition. is that KHN is a broadcaster that is. independent of the Israeli government. So there was a thought that perhaps if. Israel was kicked out, it would threaten. the independence and the future of that.

broadcaster because already there have. been calls for its funding to be cut or. for it to be taken into state hands. Uh. there was a feeling that perhaps. Eurovvision was one of the things that. was saving it from those terrible. consequences that would threaten press. freedom in Israel. >> And what impact is this boycott likely. to have, especially when it involves a. country like Spain, which is one of the. biggest sponsors of the contest. >> Some of the statements that we heard. following Israel's confirmation,

suggested that there isn't really an. easy path back for a lot of these. countries. You know, Spain in. particular, which had pushed for a vote. on Israel being excluded, said they had. lost faith in the management of the. Eurovvision Song Contest and that. Israel's attempts to politicize uh the. event meant that it could no longer be. neutral. It doesn't feel like that will. be an easy thing to repair. And the fact that the countries taking. part in the boycott will also not be. broadcasting uh the Eurovvision contest.

as well as sending participants there. That's likely to have a big financial. impact. >> That's true. And I think, you know, I. think of the fans at a time like this. You know, nobody who loves Eurovvision. wants to be excluded from watching it. And that is what seems is going to be. the case in in Spain, in the. Netherlands, in Ireland. All of these. countries who have pulled out won't be. able to screen it. And as you say, there. is a financial implication too because. every country that takes part. contributes to the fee of staging the.

contest. Spain was one of the five. biggest. Although I have to say the. number is not as big as you might. expect. Spain's contribution to. Eurovision is about 350,000. a year. So it's not a huge sum. And we. think there will be about 35 countries. taking part in Vienna in 2026. So if. it's spread evenly between them, that's. only about $10,000. It's not really that. much when you consider the cost of. putting on any standard episode of. television. It feels like that financial. impact will be kind of ameliated by the.

fact so many countries have confirmed. they will take part. >> And Eurovision was partly created to. help unite a continent that had been. torn apart by the Second World War. So, so it's quite sad and quite poignant in. a way if you like. coming up to its 70th. birthday next year. It's now being torn. apart by these divisions. >> It is very sad. You know, as someone. who's been to the Eurovision many, many. times, the atmosphere there is never. about politics. It's never about pitting.

countries against countries. It's about. musicians and artists showing the best. that their country can offer. And you. know, sometimes people think of the. music as cheesy and tacky. And there's a. lot of spandex and a lot of bare torsos. There's a lot of ravenhaired women. singing big ballads into a wind machine. But often what you find is people are. channeling the folk music of their. country combining it with the pop sounds. of the day and trying to reach out. beyond the borders of their country and. say this is what we have to offer.

culturally. So yeah, it is sad when that. all fractures and when people are. starting to use the contest for. political means or to use it as a. battering ram against governments. Um, I. understand the frustrations that fans. have in that sense, but I also. understand that some countries feel that. it would be, as Ireland called it, unconscionable to share a stage with. Israel when the loss of life in Gaza has. been so high. >> Given these deep divisions, can.

Eurovision recover? Can it reunite. through music? I mean, I do think one of the things we. need to be clear about is that this is a. big big moment for Eurovision and that. these are wounds that will take a long. time to heal. But this the competition. is still going ahead. We think there's. going to be more than 30 countries. there. And although at the time we're. recording this, four countries have. left. We also know that three countries. are rejoining. Bulgaria, Muldova, and. Romania are coming back to the contest.

after a long period of absence. So. actually the net loss to Eurovvision. next year is only one country. Um I. think what people will hope is that as. the ceasefire in Gaza takes hold and and. hopefully there is some sort of. resolution there that a path back for. these countries will start to emerge. Maybe not in 2026 or 27 but further down. the line. >> Mark, thank you. That was our music. correspondent Mark Savage. And if you'd. like to hear more international news.

stories, then please check out our. global news podcast from wherever you. get your BBC news podcasts. And if you. enjoyed this episode, please like and. subscribe. And if there's any other. issue that you'd like us to cover, then. leave us a comment below. But that's it. for now from this edition of the Global. News Podcast on YouTube.