The Dutch public broadcaster Avrotros has pulled out of the next Eurovision Song Contest, saying that Israel\u2019s participation undermined the event\u2019s neutrality.<\/p>\n
Avrotros announced on Monday that it was withdrawing from the world\u2019s largest music event next year because it \u201ccan no longer be considered neutral, with a participating country still involved in a large-scale military conflict.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eurovision included 35 countries<\/a> in 2026, all of them in Europe except for Israel and Australia. Avrotros said the contest\u2019s independence was compromised by divisions surrounding \u201cthe severe humanitarian suffering in Gaza and the ongoing restrictions on press freedom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Avrotros\u2019 withdrawal does not necessarily mean that the Netherlands won\u2019t be part of the 2027 competition in Burgas, Bulgaria. Public-service broadcasters serve as the technical sponsors of competing artists, and Avrotros said it returned responsibility for Dutch participation in Eurovision to the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, or NPO, the coordinating body for public broadcasters in the Netherlands. NPO could hand it off to a different broadcaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Netherlands was absent from Eurovision in 2026, when Avrotros pulled out for the first time over Israel\u2019s participation and NPO ruled out identifying another broadcaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eurovision has become a focal point in European backlash against Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza. The Netherlands was joined last year by boycotts from Spain, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia, a bloc representing Israel\u2019s strongest critics in Europe. The competition was viewed by 131 million people, down 35 million<\/a> from the previous year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 2026 event in Vienna also saw thousands of protesters<\/a>, while over 1,000 artists<\/a> signed an open letter calling for a boycott of Eurovision. Boycotters have accused the European Broadcasting Union, which owns the contest, of a double standard for allowing Israel to remain while banning Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Swiss singer Nemo, who won in 2024, returned their trophy<\/a> last year in protest against Israel\u2019s inclusion.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Eurovision organizers announced new rules<\/a> that bar countries involved in armed conflict from hosting the competition. But the changes did not sufficiently prove that Eurovision would remain \u201cindependent and neutral,\u201d according to Avrotros.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the Contest, undermining its neutral character,\u201d Avrotros Director-General Taco Zimmerman said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division.\u201d<\/p>\n