The decision of EBU members not to exclude KAN from the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is the single most controversial act that the contest has seen in decades. While we will see the boycott of at least four broadcasters who will not be present nor transmit the shows next May in Vienna, the reputational damage will be longlasting and to some extent already irreparable.
Let us breathe for a moment. The Eurovision stage is not, and I shall repeat is not, a suitable place to try to solve international conflicts. It is an international televised music competition among broadcasting corporations competing under their countries’ names and flags. As a contest it has rules and codes of conduct that all participating broadcasters must respect. Over the last two years one delegation above all has cumulated several confirmed and suspected violations of different rules, leading to this Thursday’s vote. EBU members have had the opportunity to express their opinion and to submit requests to the EBU. We as fans must take note that we are potentially facing a breaking point in the 70 year-old history of our beloved contest. Trust has been broken, cards have been turned, masks have been lifted.
The delicate relation between Eurovision, its broadcasting members, its fanbase and KAN has reached a new dimension since the mass demostration against the presence of an Israeli delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Before a rare display of violent opposition in front of a Eurovision venue, security measures had to be thighten to ensure the safety of participants and fans alike.
About behaviour, neutrality and respect
But demostrations and tensions were not only limited outside Malmö Arena. A letter signed by Martin Österdahl, the then Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, outlined rule breaches by members of the KAN delegation which led to a formal warning.
The EBU mentions official complaints about “intrusive, offensive, and provocative behaviour” by the Israeli media team towards other national delegations throughout the Eurovision week. The letter also mentions the derogatory comments made by KAN in 2024 towards several contestants labelled as “not friends of Israel”, such as Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Greece, Ireland, even suggesting where votes should not go. This happened again in 2025 against Armenia, with the Israeli commentator declaring: I can’t believe we gave ‘these’ guys an entire quarter in Jerusalem”.
Specifically, the comments towards Bambie Thug‘s performance in 2024 were considered a direct violation of the rule requiring commentators to remain neutral and avoid derogatory commentary about other contestants.
About voting and advertisements
Unfortunately, the list of acts that are reproached to the Israeli delegation does not stop here. In both 2024 and 2025 an agency of the Israeli government “deployed cross-platform advertising and used state social media accounts to directly target and encourage the public in participating countries to vote for the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest”, according to Eurovision News. While this might not directly go against the rules of the contest, the politicisation and instrumentalisation of the vote must raise concerns as for the respect of the spirit of the competition.
The problematic use of social media platforms continues with a YouTube account created on 20 April 2025, roughly one month before the 69th contest in Basel, Switzerland, called @Vote4NewDayWillRise, the title of the Israeli entry. Targeted videos in essentially every participating country included a link and instructions to vote up to 20 times for Israel.
The Google Ads Transparency Center confirms that these advertisements were placed by the verified account of the Israeli Government Advertising Agency. The calls were relayed by Israeli embassies worldwide through their official social media channels.
Does it stop here? You guessed it, no. In the immediate aftermath of the 2025 Eurovision Grand Final which saw Israel overwhelmingly winning the televote with 297 points, but only placing 15th in the jury vote with 60 points, several broadcasters and even European lawmakers urged the EBU to release the full voting data based on manipulation concerns.
Notably, Irish broadcaster RTÉ formally requested access to voting data, while Belgium’s VRT called for full transparency to be ensured.
About new voting rules
Seeking to counter the mounting discontent and to calm the spirits, the EBU proposed major changes to the Eurovision voting rules, such as:
- Stronger limits on promotion to curb disproportionate third-party influence, including government-backed campaigns
- Voting cap halved for 2026, encouraging fans to spread support across more entries
- Professional juries return to Semi-Finals with expanded, more diverse panels including young jurors aged 18–25
- Enhanced technical safeguards to detect and block coordinated or fraudulent voting activity
The limits to “curb disproportionate third-party influence, including government-backed campaings” as well as the “enhanced technical safeguards to detect and block coordinated or fraudulent voting activity”, appears both like an admission of failure and a desperate attempt to win the participation of some doubtful broadcasters. As these measures were judged sufficient by a majority of EBU members, no further vote on the actual participation of KAN took place. Following this, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands have announced their non-participation in Vienna next year, marking the largest boycott since 1970.
In my view these measures are an admission of guilt by the EBU and the confirmation that KAN and the Israeli government have engaged in several violations of the contest’s rules in both 2024 and 2025. At the end of the day and given all of the above, I intimately wonder whether pushing away millions of fans and viewers and inevitably tarnishing the contest’s reputation for the many years to come will have been worth it.
