Israel allowed to take part in Eurovision 2026 - as at least two countries withdraw

Israel volition beryllium allowed to vie successful adjacent year's Eurovision Song Contest - with 2 broadcasters saying they volition present boycott the event.

The contention is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and aft a gathering of its wide assembly, 2 members told the Reuters quality bureau that nary ballot was called connected Israel's participation.

Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS and Spain's RTVE instantly issued statements saying they volition not enactment successful the 2026 contest.

Ireland's broadcaster besides antecedently said they would boycott the contention should Israel beryllium allowed to instrumentality part, with Slovenia and Iceland suggesting similar.

Today, subordinate broadcasters discussed caller rules intended to halt governments and 3rd parties from disproportionately influencing voting, pursuing the announcement past period that the voting strategy had been changed implicit allegations of "interference".

That came aft Israeli vocalist Yuval Raphael received the largest fig of votes from the nationalist astatine this year's contest, held successful Basel, Switzerland, successful May - yet finishing arsenic runner-up to Austria's entry aft the assemblage votes were counted.

Ahead of the assembly, Israel's nationalist broadcaster KAN said its main enforcement Golan Yochpaz and typical to the EBU, Ayala Mizrahi, would contiguous KAN's presumption "regarding attempts to disqualify Israel from the competition".

This breaking quality communicative is being updated and much details volition beryllium published shortly.

Please refresh the leafage for the latest version.

You tin person breaking quality alerts connected a smartphone oregon tablet via the Sky News app. You tin besides follow america connected WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to support up with the latest news.