Iceland will not take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the country’s public broadcaster has said, joining four other countries boycotting the event over Israel’s inclusion.
Broadcaster RUV said on Wednesday that the Nordic nation would not participate in the 2026 competition, after organiser the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) greenlit Israel’s involvement last week, dismissing calls from some countries to hold a vote on whether to exclude the country.
“It is clear from the public debate in this country and the reaction to the EBU’s decision last week that there will be neither joy nor peace regarding RUV’s participation,” the broadcaster’s director general Stefan Eiriksson said in a statement.
Iceland, along with Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands, had threatened to boycott next year’s edition of the glitzy music contest, due to be held in Vienna in May, if Israel took part, citing its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza – as well as allegations that it unfairly intervened in the most recent competition to the benefit of its entrant.
The issue was initially supposed to be resolved with a vote in November.
But on Thursday, the EBU said there would be no vote on Israel’s participation, and that it would instead introduce new rules “to reinforce trust and protect [the] neutrality” of the contest that would discourage governments from influencing the outcome.
That prompted Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain to swiftly announce they would boycott the competition, with Irish broadcaster RTE citing “the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and humanitarian crisis”, and Slovenia’s national broadcaster saying it was “on behalf of the 20,000 children who died” in Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinian people in the territory.
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