Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals Thursday from next year's Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided that Israel will be allowed to compete.
Organizers of the pop music spectacle, which draws millions of viewers globally, met earlier Thursday to discuss Israel's participation, amid calls for the country to be excluded over the war in Gaza and threats from some members to boycott.
An independent United Nations inquiryconcluded in Septemberthat Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and that the country's top leaders have incited genocide. The Israeli government has maintained it is conducting the war in Gaza in self-defense and in accordance with international law, firmly denying accusations of genocide.
Members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the primary organizer of the event, decided not to hold a vote on Israel's participation but said that "targeted changes" should be introduced to improve neutrality.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was "pleased" with the EBU's decision and thanked all those who "stood up for Israel's right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision." Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was "ashamed" of the countries boycotting the contest.
The Eurovision meeting was held at the Geneva headquarters of the EBU, a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries, to consider new rules unveiled last month to limit governments and third parties from disproportionately influencing voting.
In the talks, EBU members "backed a set of targeted changes to the Eurovision Song Contest rules designed to reinforce trust, transparency and the neutrality of the event," a statement from the union said.
"This vote means that all EBU Members who wish to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 and agree to comply with the new rules are eligible to take part," it added.
Several nations have expressed concerns over Israel's participation in the competition due to its war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas' deadly October 7, 2023, cross-border attack into southern Israel. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israel's public broadcaster KAN rejected the possible exclusion of Israeli participants in the contest, to be held in May 2026 in Vienna. Its CEO, Golan Yochpaz, said at Thursday's meeting that the attempt by some to block Israel from competing "can only be understood as a cultural boycott," according to a statement from the broadcaster.
If members had not agreed on the new safeguarding changes, a vote on Israel's participation could have been held, the EBU said. If a vote had been held,an absolute majority would have been requiredfor an exclusion to pass.
"A large majority of Members agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place," the EBU statement said.
Last month, competition director Martin Green said the "neutrality and integrity of the Eurovision Song Contest is of paramount importance to the EBU, its members and all our audiences. It is essential that the fairness of the contest is always protected."
He added that they were taking "clear and decisive steps to ensure the contest remains a celebration of music and unity."
Decision triggers boycott from some countries
The move to allow Israel to remain in the competition prompted some countries to announce boycotts, with Spanish public broadcaster RTVE announcing Spain's "withdrawal" from the contest following the EBU decision. Spain is one of the so-called Big Five who make the largest financial contributions to the contest.
Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ confirmed in a statement that it "will not participate in or broadcast" the contest. Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said its decision not to participate followed "a careful process in which information was gathered from a wide range of stakeholders."
"Avrotros concludes that participation under the current circumstances is incompatible with the public values that are essential to us," it said.
Natalija Gorščak, president of Slovenia's public broadcaster RTV SLO, told CNN on Thursday that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is "not a real peace agreement because people are still dying."
If Israel had decided to pull out of the contest and wait for "everything to settle down" before rejoining, she said, "there would be "no disputes," and everyone would be "united by music."
The Eurovision Song Contest, which started in 1956, is a famously eccentric festival in which artists from dozens of countries battle for the annual musical crown. Last year's contest was watched by 166 million people, 3 million more than the previous year, according to the EBU.
It has sought to put music ahead of politics, but pro-Palestinian demonstrators have protested at the last two contests in Switzerland and Sweden.
This is not the first time world events have become a divisive issue for the competition. TheEBU banished Russiafrom participating following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Other countries have supported Israel's inclusion in the event, including Germany, another of the major contributors.
"Israel belongs in the Eurovision Song Contest," German Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer previously told Reuters. "There must be no ESC without Israel."
Arriving for talks Thursday, Nicolau Santos, president of Portuguese broadcaster RTP, told Reuters: "Yes, we will have a very, I suppose, interesting discussion (on Israel's participation). So, we have to wait for the end of the meeting."
"Eurovision is becoming a bit of a fractured event," Paul Jordan, a Eurovision expert who goes by the moniker Dr. Eurovision, told the Associated Press. "The slogan is 'United by Music,'" he added. "Unfortunately it's disunited through politics."
Last week, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meini-Reisinger reiterated the contest's long-standing claim to be a space of political neutrality. Addressing the planned boycott of the 70th edition of the event in 2026 by a handful of nations, she insisted the contest was "not an instrument for sanctions" in a post on X and appealed to European partners to find ways to "improve the situation in Israel and Gaza" together.
CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Lauren Kent, Stephanie Halasz, Mick Krever, Niamh Kennedy and Tal Shalev contributed to this report.
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Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals Thursday from next year's Eurovision Song Contest after organi...
