RUV, the Icelandic national broadcaster, has set a date for determining if Iceland will compete at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, Austria.
RUV’s Board will covene next week, namely on Wednesday 10th December in order to make a final decision on Iceland’s participation at Eurovision 2026.
Israel will compete at the ESC 2026, initially RUV had recommended the EBU to exclude the country from competing at the contest. Hence next week we will know if RUV and Iceland will partake in the competition in Vienna despite Israel’s participation or withdraw from the contest.
RUV’s official press release reads:
Israel will be allowed to participate in Eurovision this spring. The decision was made at a meeting of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) today. There was no vote on Israel’s participation at the meeting, given that the EBU’s proposal for new rules was approved at the meeting.
RUV’s press release goes on to read:
The board of RÚV will discuss on Wednesday whether Iceland will participate in next year’s contest despite Israel’s participation. The board agreed last week to recommend to the board of the European Broadcasting Union, EBU, that Israel be expelled from the contest next spring 2026.
RUV’s press release concludes:
The Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia have already said they will not participate if Israel is among the participating nations this spring.
The new EBU rules, which include the reintroduction of judges to the preliminary rounds, are a response to criticism of Israel’s performance in the last competition and will be introduced before the next competition is held in the spring.
The proposal for the new rules was approved by 738 votes to 264. There were 120 abstentions. If the proposal had been defeated, a vote would have been held on Israel’s participation.
