{"id":416238,"date":"2025-09-11T16:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416238\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T16:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:34:10","slug":"eu-divisions-over-gaza-hit-eurovision-as-ireland-pulls-out-eurovision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416238\/","title":{"rendered":"EU divisions over Gaza hit Eurovision as Ireland pulls out | Eurovision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s national broadcaster, RT\u00c9, has decided not to take part in next year\u2019s Eurovision<\/a> song contest if Israel is a participant.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 is the second of 37 broadcasters who took part in the event this year to have made participation next year conditional.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is RT\u00c9\u2019s position that Ireland<\/a> will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision song contest if the participation of Israel goes ahead, and the final decision regarding Ireland\u2019s participation will be made once the EBU\u2019s decision is made,\u201d the broadcaster said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cRT\u00c9 feels that Ireland\u2019s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza. RT\u00c9 is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision will raise questions about its duty to be impartial as a public service news organisation.<\/p>\n

Slovenia\u2019s national broadcaster, RTVSLO, has also said it will participate in next year\u2019s contest only if Israel is not involved.<\/p>\n

This week the Spanish culture minister said Spain should not take part either. In an interview with the Spanish TV programme La Hora de la 1 on Monday<\/a>, Ernest Urtasun said: \u201cWe asked for Israel to be expelled from Eurovision [earlier this year],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Eurovision song contest will take place in Vienna next May and is the world\u2019s second biggest TV event, with more than 160 million viewers.<\/p>\n

However, protests in the last two years in Malm\u00f6 and Basel have forced the organisers in Geneva to offer broadcasters who feel strongly about the war a way out.<\/p>\n

Normally broadcasters have to tell the EBU by October whether they will take part or not but this year the deadline has been pushed to December, with a consultant appointed to work with broadcasters on a way forward, and a potential vote on Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n

Broadcasters, including RT\u00c9 and the Nordic TV stations, normally start their selection contest in the autumn, which puts management under pressure now.<\/p>\n

Martin Green, the director of the song contest said: \u201cWe understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision song contest \u2026 It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s national public service broadcaster, Kan, threatened with privatisation by Benjamin Netanyahu amid accusations it is too leftist,<\/a> has already decided it will take part.<\/p>\n

Urtasun added: \u201cWhat I can say is that if Israel takes part, and if we don\u2019t manage to get it thrown out, then we\u2019ll have to take steps [such as withdrawing]. I don\u2019t think we can normalise Israel\u2019s participation in international forums as if nothing\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Spain\u2019s prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, called on Israel to withdraw from the Eurovision song contest, saying it should be held to the same standards over the war in Gaza as Russia has been over the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez, one of the most outspoken international critics of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, stepped up his rhetoric on Monday<\/a>, accusing Netanyahu\u2019s government of \u201cexterminating a defenceless people\u201d by bombing hospitals and \u201ckilling innocent boys and girls with hunger\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has asked more than 20 broadcasters whether they would participate. Many, including the BBC, have referred the question back to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).<\/p>\n

The Spanish broadcaster RTVE said it would not comment on whether it would participate.<\/p>\n

Stef\u00e1n J\u00f3n Hafstein, the chair of Iceland\u2019s national broadcaster, R\u00daV, told reporters it would not be making a decision until the consultation process was over.<\/p>\n

The Finnish broadcaster YLE said it was \u201cfully focused\u201d on the process of finding a song and started the process in August.<\/p>\n

Johanna T\u00f6rn-Mangs, the director of culture and factual content at YLE, said the contest was \u201can important event for both the Finnish music industry and audiences\u201d but Gaza was in their minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe humanitarian situation in Gaza is tragic, and we sincerely hope for an end to the suffering as soon as possible. Israel\u2019s participation in Eurovision has been a significant topic of discussion in Finland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Swedish broadcaster SVT said it was in touch with the EBU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s national broadcaster, RT\u00c9, has decided not to take part in next year\u2019s Eurovision song contest if Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-416238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}