TheEurovision Song Contest is an international song competition organised annually since 1956 by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) between its members who participate representing their countries. One of the stated aims of the contest is that the event is of a non-political nature, and participating broadcasters and performers are precluded from promoting or referring to anything of a political, commercial or similar nature during the contest. However, several controversial moments have occurred since the event's creation in 1956, which have included political tensions between competing countries being reflected in the contest's performances and voting, disqualification of entries due to political references in song lyrics, and demonstrations against certain countries competing due to said country's politics and policies.
Theconflict betweenArmenia andAzerbaijan has affected the contest on numerous occasions since both countries entered in the late 2000s. In2009, a number of people in Azerbaijan who voted for the Armenian entry were reportedly questioned by Azeri police.[1] The Armenian participating broadcaster, thePublic Television Company of Armenia (AMPTV), requested forits entry to the2015 contest to be changed from its original title "Don't Deny" to "Face the Shadow", following claims that it contained a call forrecognition of the Armenian genocide, which would violate contest rules regarding political statements.[2][3][4][5] Controversy erupted again in2016 when Armenia's representativeIveta Mukuchyan was shown waving theflag of theRepublic of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, abreakaway state internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but largely inhabited by ethnicArmenians, at the contest's first semi-final.[6] This again contravened Eurovision rules on political gestures and resulted in disciplinary action being levied against ARMTV.[7]
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Interactions betweenRussia andUkraine in the contest had originally been positive in the first years of co-competition,[8] until theRussian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and thewar in Donbas that followed. In2016, Ukraine'sJamala won the contest with the song "1944", whose lyrics referenced thedeportation of the Crimean Tatars. Given the events in Crimea, many saw this song as a political statement against Russia's actions. However, the song was permitted to compete given the perceived historical nature of the song, despite protests from the Russian delegation.[9][10] Calls for a Russian boycott of the2017 contest in Ukraine were dismissed, but their representativeJulia Samoylova was subsequently banned from entering Ukraine, due to breaking Ukrainian law by having performed in Crimea in 2015 and entering the region directly from Russia rather than going through Ukraine.[11] Offers for Samoylova to compete remotely from a venue in Russia, or for another representative to compete in her place, were rejected by Russia's broadcasterChannel One, eventually pulling out of the contest. The EBU condemned the Ukrainian government's decision to impose a travel ban,[12] and warned thatUA:PBC risk exclusion from future events.[13]
In the wake of theRussian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, UA:PBC appealed to suspend Russian EBU member broadcastersRTR and Channel One from the EBU, and to exclude Russia from competing inthat year's contest. The appeal alleged that since the beginning of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, RTR and Channel One had been a mouthpiece for the Russian government and a key tool of political propaganda financed from the Russian state budget.[14] The EBU initially stated that Russia as well as Ukraine would still be allowed to participate in the contest, citing the non-political nature of the event.[15][16] Following complaints levied by other participating broadcasters, the EBU announced on 25 February that Russia would not be allowed to take part in the 2022 contest, stating it would bring the competition into disrepute.[17][18] Ukraine went on to win that edition of the contest, with the highest number of points from the televote in its entire history.[19]
Following its 2022 win, Ukraine's broadcaster was initially given the opportunity to present its proposal to host the2023 contest in Ukraine. However, the EBU later decided that the country would not be able to host due to the Russian invasion.[20] The United Kingdom, which had finished in second place in 2022, was instead chosen to host the contest on Ukraine's behalf.[21] Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy requested to address the audience during the final of that year's contest, but it was rejected by the EBU on the basis of its wish to not politicize the event.[22]Ternopil, the hometown of that year's Ukrainian representativesTvorchi, was targeted by Russian missile strikes ahead of Tvorchi's performance; the duo later held up a makeshift sign with 'Ternopil' written on it during the recap of the competing performances.[23]
Georgia's planned entry for the2009 contest inMoscow caused controversy: in the aftermath of theRusso-Georgian War,Stephane and 3G were selected to compete with the song "We Don't Wanna Put In", but the EBU objected to the lyrics as they appeared to criticise then-Russian prime ministerVladimir Putin. Requests by the EBU for the lyrics of the song to be changed were refused by the group, and Georgian broadcasterGPB subsequently withdrew from the event.[24][25] A number of boycotts of the contest were considered by theBaltic states over Russia's actions in Georgia, but none eventually occurred, with Estonian broadcasterERR hosting a poll on its website to gauge public opinion on competing in Russia.[25][26]
Israel first competed in the contest in1973, becoming the first country from outside of Europe to enter. Its participation in the contest over the years has been at times controversial, mostly owing to theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict and the widerArab–Israeli conflict, but it has remained a regular competitor, winning four times and hosting three times.
The country's first appearance in 1973 was marked by an increased security presence at the contest venue inLuxembourg City than what would have been considered normal in the early 1970s, coming less than a year after theMunich massacre where 11 members of the1972 Israeli Olympic team were killed by the Palestinian militant organisationBlack September. Armed guards were stationed at the venue, and the audience in attendance were warned not to stand during the show at the risk of being shot.[27][28][29]
The contest was regularly broadcast in theArab world during the 1970s, but as many of these countriesdid not recognise Israel, their broadcasters typically cut toadvertisements when Israel performed.[30] When in1978 it became apparent that Israel was on course to win the contest, the broadcast in many of these countries was cut short before the end of the voting, with Jordanian broadcasterJTV explaining the end of its transmission as due to "technical difficulties" and concluding its transmission with an image of daffodils; Jordanian media later announced thatBelgium, the eventual runner-up, had won instead.[31][32][33]
Due to Israel's participation in the contest, it is believed that many Arab states that are eligible to participate in the contest choose not to do so, however, a number of attempts have been made by some of those countries to enter.Tunisia had applied to take part in the1977 contest, and had been drawn to perform fourth on stage, but later withdrew.[34][35]Morocco competed for the first, and to date the only time, in1980, when Israel had withdrawn from the contest due to it being held on the same night asYom HaZikaron.[a][38][39][40] Most recently,Lebanon had signed up to compete in the2005 contest, and had selected "Quand tout s'enfuit" as its debut entry, to be performed byAline Lahoud. After being told by the EBU that it would have to broadcast the entire programme in full, including the Israeli entry,Télé Liban responded that it could not guarantee this as it would beincompatible with Lebanese law. The broadcaster therefore withdrew its entry, resulting in sanctions from the EBU due to the late withdrawal.[41]
Due to the preparations and rehearsals which accompany the contest, and the Saturday evening timeslot for the final, objections fromOrthodox religious leaders in Israel regarding the potential interruption toShabbat have been raised on all three times the country has hosted the event. In1979, these objections were largely ignored and preparations for the contest inJerusalem were held mostly unchanged from standard, butTurkey was pressured into withdrawing from the contest by Arab states who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in Israel.[42][30] Objections were again raised in1999 with regards to the contest being held around Shabbat, as well as criticism levelled againstDana International, the contest's firsttrans winner, leading to an attempt to stop the contest being held in Israel at all. However, all of these criticisms were in vain and the contest went ahead as planned, this time also in Jerusalem.[43][44]
In 2019, a number of controversial incidents occurred in the run-up tothat year's contest inTel Aviv. Requests were once again received from Orthodox leaders that the contest not interfere with Shabbat, with a letter penned byYaakov Litzman, leader of the ultra-OrthodoxUnited Torah Judaism party, to several government departments demanding that the contest not violate the holy day.[45]Shalva Band, one of the competing entrants in the country'snational selection for that year's contest, ultimately withdrew from contention when told that, should they win, they would be required to perform in rehearsals on Shabbat; the group ultimately performed as an interval act during the contest's second semi-final.[46][47]
The 2019 contest also saw calls from a number of different groups for a boycott of the event, which included proponents of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in response to Israeli policies towardsPalestinians in theWest Bank andGaza, as well as in opposition to what they see as "pinkwashing" by theIsraeli government.[48][49] Others campaigned against a boycott of the event, asserting that any cultural boycott would be antithetical to advancing peace in the region.[50] Most notably, theIcelandic entrantsHatari raised banners showing thePalestinian flag as their televoting points were announced in the final;[51] this eventually caused the Icelandic participating broadcasterRÚV to be fined€5,000.[52]
Israel's participation in the contest was again put into controversy ahead of the2024 edition inMalmö, Sweden, following the outbreak of theGaza war in October 2023 and thehumanitarian crisis resulting fromIsraeli military operations in Gaza during the war.[53][54][55][56] A separate controversy erupted regarding the lyrics of the song Israel had originally submitted, "October Rain". The EBU ruled that the song was in violation of the rules, as its lyrics appeared to reference the7 October attacks on Israel byHamas-led Palestinian militants. Israel eventually submitted a modified version of the song with a new title, "Hurricane", which was accepted by the EBU to compete.[57][58][59] Protests against Israel's participation were held in Malmö during the contest,[60] and the performances of the Israeli entrantEden Golan on stage were met with booing from the audience,[61][62][63] which was reportedly suppressed in the live television broadcast.[64]
Acts of discontent continued into the2025 contest inBasel, Switzerland, where during the third dress rehearsal for the second semi-final, "six people with whistles and 'oversized' Palestinian flags" started disruptingYuval Raphael's performance.[65] On 6 May 2025, 72 former Eurovision contestants signed an open letter calling for Israel and its national broadcasterKan to be excluded from the contest, accusing the EBU of normalising and whitewashing "crimes against humanity" and of applying adouble standard compared to the exclusion of Russia in 2022.[66] On 7 May 2025,Kevin Bakhurst, director-general ofIrish broadcasterRTÉ, requested that EBU members discuss Israel's participation; he later reported that "there is a commitment from the EBU to have a wider discussion[...] in due course", without providing further details.[67] Following the final, in which Israel won the public vote and finished second overall, several participating broadcasters raised concerns with the voting system and requested a rework;[68] an investigation by the EBU's fact-checking initiative Eurovision News Spotlight revealed that theIsrael Government Advertising Agency had conducted a cross-platform advertising campaign to encourage and boost public votes for Israel's entry.[69][70] Spanish prime ministerPedro Sánchez and that year's winnerJJ joined calls to exclude Israel from the competition, with the former also citing a double standard in comparison to Russia.[71][72]
During preparations for the2026 contest inVienna, Austria, the broadcasters from Iceland (RÚV),[73][74] theNetherlands (AVROTROS),[75][76]Spain (RTVE),[77]Slovenia (RTVSLO),[78] and Ireland (RTÉ)[79] expressed their dissatisfaction with Israel's presence in the contest, with the latter four additionally stating their refusal to participate if Israel is allowed to compete.[79][80][81][82]
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