Eurovision

Oscar hopes and Eurovision: Cultural challenges Israel faces next year

Ezra Taylor and Hannah Brown explore Eurovision’s new hosting rules, Israel’s Oscar hopes with Tell Me Everything, and the country’s complicated relationship with international film festivals.

Oscar hopes and Eurovision: Cultural challenges Israel faces next year.
A general view during the Grand Final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest at Wiener Stadthalle on May 16, 2026 in Vienna, Austria.

Dutch public broadcaster pulls out of 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, citing Gaza war

A panoramic aerial view of Burgas, the fourth-largest city in Bulgaria.

Eurovision heads to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast as Burgas confirmed 2027 host city

  Eden Golan representing Israel walks on stage during the Grand Final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo, Sweden, May 11, 2024.

‘Next Star’ to select Israel’s Eurovision 2027 representative


Eurovision rule changes threaten Israel's chances at success amid boycotts

CULTURAL AFFAIRS: Iceland joins a growing list of countries boycotting Eurovision 2026 due to Israel’s participation, as new voting rules create challenges for Israel’s success.

ISRAEL HAS been singled out as no country ever has been before at Eurovision. Here, viewers cheer as they watch this year’s Eurovision Song Contest finals being screened at a community center in Tel Aviv, in May.

Israel's global standing slowly recovers as diplomatic tsunami begins to recede

NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Israel's international standing is shifting, moving from isolation to slow, uneven recovery as global engagement grows.

Has there been a slight shift this week in Israel’s diplomatic outlook? Here, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speak to the media during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.

My Word: Playing the dangerous boycott game - opinion

From the UN to Eurovision to Guinness, global arenas are turning against Israel, revealing a deeper campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators call for an Irish boycott of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if there is Israeli participation, outside RTE Irish public television studios in Dublin, last month.

Swiss Eurovision winner Nemo announces they are returning their trophy in protest against Israel

The comments are the latest protest against the European Broadcasting Union, which has seen five countries pull out after it cleared Israel last week to take part in next year's event in Austria.

Nemo, representing Switzerland, performs "The Code" during the Grand Final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo, Sweden, May 11, 2024.

Iceland to boycott 2026 Eurovision in protest of go-ahead for Israel

Iceland, which has never won the song contest, will join Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia in their boycott of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.

VÆB, representing Iceland, perform "ROA", during the Grand Final of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland, May 17, 2025.

Merz visit highlights new strategic, and strained, Germany-Israel bond - analysis

Notably, Germany opposed various sanctions proposals in the EU. It is one of the few countries Israel can count on to at least abstain from one-sided UN General Assembly resolutions.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog (R) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L) at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, December 6, 2025.

Boycotts could hurt Eurovision budget but not the 'show,' host ORF says

At a meeting on Thursday, national broadcasters that make up the European Broadcasting Union cleared Israel to take part in the next contest in May

People cheer as they watch the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest finals being screened at a community center in Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 17, 2025.

Europe once expelled Jewish musicians, now it hunts the only Jewish state - comment

European broadcasters boycotting Israel's Eurovision Song Contest participation frame it as moral courage, but the instinct mirrors patterns that shaped early Nazi-era exclusions of Jewish culture.

A mass rally of Berliners took place in the Sportpalast, where Nazi Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and Gauleiter of Berlin, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, with ruthless frankness, described the danger facing Europe, 1943.

Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia withdraw from Eurovision after Israel cleared to compete

"If no one was up in arms when Russia began its invasion, and it was exiled from global competitions and Eurovision, then the same should happen with Israel," Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez said.

 Yuval Raphael is the winner of the Rising star 2025 finale and will represent Israel in the Eurovision.

Germany knows that erasing Israel from various platforms does nothing for peace - editorial

The Germans, speaking from painful experience, believe that this type of exclusion should never be normalized, and attempts to delegitimize an entire people never end well. The world should listen.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to suspend arms deliveries to Israel has unleashed quite a storm at home, says the writer.