Israel has qualified for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest amid hostile crowd chanting in Vienna, concerns about the integrity of voting procedures and a boycott of the event by broadcasters in five countries, including Ireland.
Israeli singer Noam Bettan was one of 10 acts to progress from the first semi-final on Tuesday night, though his performance of the song Michelle received a mixed response inside the Wiener Stadthalle.
A voice in the crowd was heard repeatedly shouting “stop, stop the genocide” after Bettan came on stage, with the chant audible on the live broadcast throughout the introduction and first verse of the song.
“Some of the audience seem to be giving their opinions on Israel’s continued participation in the song contest,” said presenter Angela Scanlon, who was commentating for the BBC, after the performance concluded.
The favourites to win this year’s Eurovision, Finnish entrants Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen, also secured their passage, while Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland will join them in the final on Saturday night.
But Portugal, Georgia, Montenegro, Estonia and San Marino were eliminated after a semi-final that was decided by a combination of national juries and a public vote. This meant that British pop star Boy George, who was singing for San Marino, did not make it through.
Boy George and Italian singer Senhit (third from right) representing San Marino with the song ‘Superstar’ in Tuesday’s Eurovision Song Contest semi-final in Vienna. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images
The results were announced in random order by presenters Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski.
Austrian police were on high alert before the first semi-final, though Reuters reported that a pro-Palestinian demonstration initially expected to attract about 500 people on Tuesday afternoon only drew about 30. Further protests are anticipated this week.
Thirty-five countries are taking part in this year’s Eurovision, the lowest number since 2003. Broadcasters in Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland are boycotting it in protest against the participation of Israel, with RTÉ, Spanish broadcaster RTVE and Slovenia’s RTV also deciding not to air the competition.
This followed a move by the European Broadcasting Union – the alliance of public service broadcasters that organises the song contest – to tighten the voting and campaigning rules that govern Eurovision without holding a vote on whether Israel should take part.
RTÉ said in December that it felt Ireland’s participation would be “unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk”. It also said it was deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and by Israel’s barring of international journalists from the territory.
Some broadcasters, including Germany’s Ard and Austrian host broadcaster Orf, strongly supported Israel’s inclusion. But several – including Spain’s RTVE, one of the “big five” funders of the European Broadcasting Union – asked questions about the nature of the Israeli campaign for votes during the 2025 song contest, at which it unexpectedly topped the public vote and finished second overall.
Noam Bettan representing Israel in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria. Photograph: Christian Bruna/Getty Images
The maximum number of votes fans can cast has since been halved to 10 in a bid to make the system less vulnerable to manipulation, while juries have returned to the semi-finals for the first time since 2022. The organisers also pledged to “strengthen monitoring of suspicious patterns” and banned campaigns for votes by third parties, including governments and government agencies.
Eurovision director Martin Green on Monday responded vigorously to a story in The New York Times about Israel’s use of the song contest as a tool of soft power, suggesting a lot of it was a “rehash” and that it appeared be “a whole article about who did not win” the competition in 2025.
“Just because I enjoy saying this every time, [Austrian singer] JJ won the Eurovision Song Contest last year, fairly and squarely. I don’t really have much to say about it,” he said.
But the organisers remain under pressure to show that they can uphold the integrity of the competition, which is now in its 70th year and has traditionally claimed to be a “non-political” event.
At the weekend, Green said a formal warning letter had been issued to Kan, the Israeli broadcaster, after videos with an onscreen instruction to “vote 10 times for Israel” were published and released on behalf of Bettan.
Green said the EBU was “satisfied” that the video was not a large-scale campaign funded by a third party, but he also said the direct call-to-action was “not in line with our rules nor the spirit of the competition”.
The first semi-final, which Irish audiences could watch on BBC One, also saw performances by two of the remaining “big four” countries, Italy and Germany, who proceed directly to the grand final thanks to their status as major financial contributors.
Scanlon’s co-commentator, Rylan, noted on air that Eurovision was facing “one of its most challenging years” as a result of the five countries’ withdrawal and that “a lot of controversy” surrounded Israel’s participation.
Meanwhile, Swarovski suggested the public should “spread the love” and vote for more than one song.