As the Eurovision Song Contest comes closer, so too are the growing calls for Israel’s exclusion from the Contest altogether. Now, a new open letter has been created calling for Israel to be removed from the Contest, which has been signed by over 1,000 artists.
‘Standing in solidarity’
The letter, entitled “No Music for Genocide”, calls on the EBU to withdraw its support for Israeli participation at the Eurovision Song Contest. They also call for public broadcasters, fans, performers and organisers to boycott the Contest until Israel is removed.
The petition has already amassed over 1,100 signatures from musicians, artists and other cultural stars from across the world. These include big names in music – including Massive Attack, Björk, Lorde, Paloma Faith, Sigur Rós, Kneecap and Macklemore, as well as a number of former Eurovision participants.
Those who sign the letter “reject Eurovision being used to whitewash and normalise Israel’s genocide, siege and brutal military occupation against Palestinians”. They added:
We stand in solidarity with Palestinian calls for public broadcasters, performers, screening party organisers, crew, and fans to boycott Eurovision until the EBU bans complicit Israeli broadcaster KAN.
As artists, we recognise our collective agency – and the power of refusal. We refuse to be silent. We refuse to be complicit. We call on others in our industry to join us. And we stand in solidarity with all principled efforts to end complicity in every industry.
EBU’s response to open letter
The EBU has not responded to the new open letter. However, following the decision to allow Israel to participate in December, Eurovision Director Martin Green said:
No one can fail to be moved by what we have seen in [the Middle East] in the past few years. Some of you have written to us, spoken out, or expressed anger and pain at what they see as silence in the face of tragedy. I want to say that we hear you. We understand why you feel so strongly and that we care too.
We know many fans want us to take a defined position on geo-political events. But the only way the Eurovision Song Contest can continue to bring people together is by ensuring we are guided by our rules first and foremost.
As we look to next year, we will ensure that all participating broadcasters respect the rules of the competition and if they don’t you have a personal pledge from me, we will not tolerate it and call it out.
The story of Eurovision 2026 so far
The journey to the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest kicked off immediately following JJ’s win in Basel, when Austria’s ORF accepted the rights to host the 70th edition of the contest. The bidding process started in June, with interested cities having until July 4 to submit their bid book. Innsbruck and Vienna were shortlisted, with the latter winning the right to host next year’s contest. 35 countries will take part in the competition, the lowest number of competing entries since 2004.
As for the organisation of the competition, the ‘core team‘ was revealed in June 2025, with further details about next year’s competition to be revealed in due course. The shows will take place on May 12th, 14th and 16th.
Be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: NME
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
Euan T