The EBU has sent out a letter to all its members in order to convene an extraordinary meeting in November, in order to vote on Israel and KAN’s participation at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2026 due to the growing international calls to exclude Israel from ESC 2026 due to the war in Gaza.
The initial meeting regarding Israel’s participation at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest was scheduled to take place in December but has been preoponed to November. This extraordinary General Assembly will be held online in early November.
Delphine Ernotte-Cucci ( EBU’s President) has addressed a letter to all EBU member states to convene for an extraordinary meeting in order to decide on Israel’s participation at the forthcoming 2026 Eurovision edition in Vienna. This comes after the Executive Board’s meeting today with the EBU’s former vice president Petr Dvorak who has held meetings with EBU members and has given his feedback to the EBU.
In a letter to participating broadcasters, the EBU stated that, given the “unprecedented diversity of opinion” among EBU members, a consensus could not be reached. Therefore, it is relying on a broader, democratic decision-making basis in a vote at an extraordinary online General Assembly in early November.
The EBU gave the following statement to RTE (the Irish national broadcaster):
We can confirm that a letter has been sent from the Executive Board of the European Broadcasting Union to Directors General of all our Members informing them that a vote on participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place at an extraordinary meeting of the EBU’s General Assembly to be held online in early November.
