Iceland’s national broadcaster RÚV will determine its official stance on Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 during its next board meeting later this month.
Board to finalise Iceland’s stance
The discussion will take place at RÚV’s board meeting on the last Wednesday of October, where members are expected to decide whether to support calls to exclude Israel from the competition.
The broadcaster’s board chairman, Stefán Jón Hafstein, stated that “Israel should be expelled from the competition”, though he clarified that this reflected his personal opinion, not RÚV’s official position.
Background and upcoming vote
The decision comes ahead of the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) extraordinary General Assembly in November, where all full member broadcasters will vote on Israel’s eligibility to compete at Eurovision 2026 in Vienna.
RÚV’s Director General, Stefán Eiríksson, has previously warned that Iceland could withdraw from the Contest if Israel remains in the line-up, citing concerns about Israel’s broadcaster and government conduct in relation to the Contest’s rules.
RÚV’s upcoming decision follows similar debates among other European broadcasters. Since August, RTVE (Spain), RTÉ (Ireland), AVROTROS (Netherlands) and RTVSLO (Slovenia) have each declared they would not participate in Eurovision 2026 if Israel competes.
Iceland’s Eurovision journey
Iceland made its debut on the Eurovision stage in 1986, finishing 16th with the song “Gleðibankinn” (Bank of Fun) by ICY. In their 35 appearances, Iceland has finished in top 10 an impressive 7 times. Their best result to date is second place, which they have achieved twice. The first time was in 1999, where Selma Björnsdóttir received 146 points for her performance of “All Out of Luck”. The second time was in 2009, with Yohanna singing “Is It True” and receiving 218 points.
VÆB represented Iceland in Basel in 2025 with their song “RÓA”. The duo qualified for the final, bringing Iceland back into the final for the first time since 2022. In the final, they would eventually finish in 25th place with 33 points; all of these were awarded by the televote.
What do you think RÚV’s board will decide about Israel’s participation? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: RÚV
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
Euan T 
Giwrgos Oiko