{"id":24711,"date":"2026-05-16T18:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/24711\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T18:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:37:13","slug":"why-ireland-spain-the-netherlands-iceland-and-slovenia-are-not-taking-part-in-eurovision-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/24711\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia are not taking part in Eurovision 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eurovision Song Contest <\/a>is back for 2026, but five competition regulars have chosen to boycott this year’s contest in Austria.<\/p>\n

Thanks to JJ’s win in last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Austria will host in Vienna<\/a> this year, with 35 countries turning up to the Wiener Stadthalle.<\/p>\n

Only 25 countries<\/a> are allowed to compete in the final on Saturday, May 16, meaning 10 countries had to bid farewell to the competition after the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

For those of us in the UK, we could breathe a sigh of relief as we’re automatically guaranteed a place in the final thanks to being part of the “Big Four”.<\/p>\n

Italy, Germany and France are also guaranteed the same spot, as well as hosting country Austria who have also escaped the qualms of the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

However, this year five competition regulars will be not be taking part, with Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain choosing to boycott the event.<\/p>\n

The countries said they are boycotting the competition due to Israel’s participation following the conflict in Gaza. Some countries called for a vote to see if Israel should be allowed to participate, but as this vote was not held they chose to boycott instead.<\/p>\n

Announcing the boycott, Irish national broadcaster RTE described Israel’s participation as \u201cunconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

A statement said: \u201cRTE remains deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denial of access to international journalists to the territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dutch broadcaster Avrotros also announced that it would not broadcast the competition, saying it would be \u201cincompatible with the public values that are essential to us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Israel<\/p>\n

Israel have been allowed to compete in the contest(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Taco Zimmerman, chief executive, said: \u201cUniversal values like humanity and a free press have been seriously violated and are non-negotiable for us\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWe choose the core values of Avrotros and, as a public broadcaster, have the responsibility to remain true to these values, even when that is complicated or vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefan Eiriksson, director-general of broadcasting at Iceland’s RUV said: \u201cThere is no peace or joy connected to this contest as things stand now.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn that basis, first and foremost, we are stepping back while the situation is as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the countries boycotting, Eurovision director Martin Green said: “We respect the decision of all broadcasters who have chosen not to participate in [the] Eurovision Song Contest and hope to welcome them back soon.”<\/p>\n

In response to the decision to allow Israel to compete at next year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest, the country\u2019s president Isaac Herzog wrote on X: \u201cIsrael deserves to be represented on every stage around the world, a cause to which I am fully and actively committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased that Israel will once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest and I hope that the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to all our friends who stood up for Israel\u2019s right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision. This decision demonstrates solidarity, fellowship and co-operation, and reinforces the spirit of affinity between nations through culture and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iceland and the Netherlands will broadcast the contest, but the other three countries will not be. Instead, Ireland have informed that they will be playing a Eurovision-themed episode of popular sitcom Father Ted.<\/p>\n

Slovenia have confirmed that they will be broadcasting a series called Voices of Palestine, meanwhile Spain will run its own musical special, The House of Music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eurovision Song Contest is back for 2026, but five competition regulars have chosen to boycott this year’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3956,4069,17,971],"class_list":["post-24711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-bbc","tag-eurovision-song-contest","tag-spain","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}