The Netherlands will withdraw from 2026 Eurovision if Israel is allowed to compete
https://nltimes.nl/2025/09/12/netherlands-will-withdraw-2026-eurovision-israel-allowed-competeOpen linkView original on lemmy.world1129
Comments111https://nltimes.nl/2025/09/12/netherlands-will-withdraw-2026-eurovision-israel-allowed-competeOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
So that's how many members already?
-4-5?-Spain
-Ireland
-Slovenia
-Netherlands
-Iceland
Hope there will be more.
Add Iceland to the list too
Slovenia has been up to some good stuff recently, first they imposed an arms embargo on israel, now this. I'm proud of my little country
Didn't we say that we are not considering participation because organizer doesn't listen to us and not because of Israel? Anyway, waiting years for this realization is lame. Better late than never but still... Take note that many Slovene universities and other institutions still
merelymerrily collaborate with Israel, also we have bo problems hosting Israeli national sport teams and even use police to avoid protests and so on. And that arms embargo, Slovenia doesn't even know what transits through. We also don't want anything with lawsuits against genocide. Yes, it's a step or two in the right direction but far away from something big.Fair point
Small country, big hearth?!
I feel ashamed that my country is not on this list.
Same, with even our ministry of the sports that said that "the Gaza operation is not as aggressive, not as bloody as the Russian invasion of Ukraine to justify banning Israel from the Olympics". WTF did you smoke?
As an Australian, same here.
That said its bemused me as to why we're even there.
I was told the show is very popular in Australia, is that true?
I don't really mind the contestants outside Europe, I think it's pretty cool they invited Australia if Australians are indeed fans of the show.
it might still come to consider it, don't give up hope, yet.
As shit as the European song contest is, i hope everyone does the same and only israel will vompete with no one.
Ireland announced yesterday that they will.
Slovenia was first 🙂, but I think they weren't definitive about it. Probably they wanted to wait so they wouldn't be the only one.
Israel gets kicked out way before that. They have a population of 10million. Spain and the Netherlands are much larger then that. More viewers = more money
Maybe, but Israel has unlimited funds to throw at PR thanks to the USA, so I'm not sure population is going to be a deciding factor there.
That's treading dangerously close to a specific kind of conspiracy theory there.
The EBU has pretty strong financial ties to Israel, not least of which their main sponsor Moroccan Oil. But at the end of the day you can count on the ghouls in charge to always find the coward's way out and follow the money. It's the exact same pattern of behavior they had with Russia in 2022, which they initially allowed to compete before backpedalling.
Pretending that this is an issue solely because of some conspiracy is not only baseless, but it also unfairly lets most European broadcasters off the hook for refusing to uphold the set the same hard lines with Israel that they set with Russia. Israel competed because European broadcasters were happy enough to include Israel. Simple as.
An Israeli company has been the main sponsor the past few years.
You can easily replace a sponsor. Or better yet, dont! The shows didn't have a sponsor 10 years ago. Ads are ruining everything
That'd be nice, but they, maroccanoil, have been main sponsor for the last five years, and are confirmed to again be this year. Dunno what the chances are of that changing at this point.
Also - I'm pretty sure they had corporate sponsors 10 years ago. They aren't shown in some countries broadcasts, but they've been there for some time.
Yes, but is there any evidence that Moroccan Oil is an activist company? They were founded by an Israeli, but in Montreal, Canada and are headquartered in New York, USA. They don't seem to have any direct ties to the Israeli military or government, because they are a haircare company. Companies usually care more about their bottom line than about their government's agenda (as long as the two don't collide)
I don't see how this one's involvement stops the EBU from kicking out Israel.
They themselves have often been criticised for potentially producing their product in occupied territory, but I don't think there is any direct evidence they're influencing the ebu.
The ebu themselves say there isn't any connection between Israeli participation and the sponsorship. At the same time, a sponsor probably has some amount of influence, and the ebu might try to avoid doing something that might not jive with their main sponsor without direct pressure.
In the end, it's all speculation, though.
Australia are gonna sit quietly in the corner and not say a word in the hopes that Europe forgets we’re still allowed to compete
Is Australia committing a genocide too?
They did theirs last century, same with Canada.
If we counted the past there would be like 2 countries in Eurovision
Yea, that's what I meant. They're not doing one now, they should be OK for Eurovision 2026.
it's about Australia finally having a chance to win.
Welcome to the european song contest where two countries that aren't european are competing in a battle of whom has the most forgettable musicians.
Hey, we did get one good song out of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVbShUW6QBM
As a Dutch person, I'm very glad we've made this decision. After reading about Ireland doing the same I didn't think we would but I'm glad that we did and also that we've decided on this somewhat early instead of waiting to see what the "bigger" countries are doing like we usually do with these things.
Why is israel, a country in the middle east, a part of Eurovision to begin with? Very telling.
Because they are part of the European Broadcast Union (EBU), just like other non-European countries including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Georgia. That said, just like Russia, their membership should be suspended.
I'm completely fine with non-European countries participating. Australia (the one with the kangaroos) isn't even an EBU member, but has been participating in the Eurovision for the last ten years and I think it's great to see the world grow closer like that.
Tunisia and Lebanon tried to participate in 1977 and 2005 respectively (the latter even selected Aline Lahoud as their representative), but their participations were ultimately thrown out the window once they found out that Israel was there.
Morocco actually did participate in 1980, when Israel left after literally winning the second year in a row. Morocco never returned, even after recognizing Israel, and even in the later years when Israel was absent.
Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and the Vatican City all can participate since they have broadcasters that are a part of the EBU, but they choose not to, mostly due to Israel participating, which half of these countries don't recognize. Also who would the Vatican even send to Eurovision, one of their Cardinals? Oh yeah, Kazakhstan, an EBU associate, even participated in Junior Eurovision, but never in the adult contest. They are in the running for a special invitation though, whether it actually happens is something only time will tell.
There was a nun who won The Voice
(But since that, she renounced her vows to focus on her musical career)
Guess I was such a clueless idiot.
Didn't the last Pope have a rock album?
Yeah. But I bet the EBU's gonna be like "you can't send your leader, that's political".
Though, EBU's bullshit statements aside, I kinda wonder what fire music will be unleashed by Pope Leo.
Is there a different Australia or were you just making it clear it wasn't a typo for Austria?
It's a nonsense joke. Australia is also there. Just kill Eurovision and call it something else for fucks sake
CountriesOnEarthWithFreeSpeechAndAFunctioningDemocracyvision
Azerbaijan entered the chat
Now you mention them, interesting how Israel and Russia are matter of discussion and Azerbaijan isn't despite their invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh
I think we're seeing the same reaction as when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008. Basically "oh no this is not okay. anyway...".
Sounds plausible, Russia's invasion of Georgia didn't seem like a big deal to me back then. Same as Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Media failed me in each of those cases. I feel like i'm having less blind spots as i get older, but i'm obviously still not fully there yet.
Australia, Armenia, and Morocco are all outside of Europe, and have completed too. Basically all European countries are eligible, plus those whose public broadcasters are part of the European Broadcasting Union.
Armenia being outside of Europe is still kinda debatable if you ask me.
I mean, it's in western Asia, next to Azerbaijan and Georgia. "Complicated definitions of Europe" are part of the point here, but it's pretty clearly not Europe in my mind, but given the Turkish border, it's not far from Europe like Australia is
Morocco? Completed it mate
It is filled with European colonists.
I wish my country was that smart.
Same :(
It very important to note that Israel is NOT part of Europe. It's in the Middle East, which is in ASIA.
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. Heck, Australia.. If these are Europe, then so is Israel.
That said, I don't think we should exclude Israel from participating in Eurovision on a geographic basis. We should exclude them instead because they are an ethnofascist apartheid colony that's committing genocide on its population.
They were also very clearly rigging the votes in the last Eurovision by having an online campaign aimed at making people vote for them (advertising like that is forbidden by Eurovision rules)
Right, why were they ever allowed to compete, just cause it's a white country?
Because Eurovision doesn't have "Must be a european country" as a rule
Instead the rule is: must be a member of the European Broadcasting Union, which is notably different from Europe or EU: some African countries are members too.
It's because they're part of the EBU (not sure why though, the E here also stands for European). I think that's the actual qualification for entry.
The E in EBC is basically as relevant as the E in European Article Number (EAN) which are used globally.
Asiavision doesn't have the same ratings tho
They should really say that they will pull out of the show if israel and the zionists are allowed to sponsor the show through Moroccanoil and Estee Lauder.
THAT would hurt.
Good. We need more of this. Israel needs to be isolated as the pariah state it is.
Israel should go back to sound as the bad idea it is.
Countries are finally speaking up about this, I've been waiting for like, 2 years already.
Israel has undeniably brought the contest into disrepute twice in a row with them sending basically political entries with shady ad campaigns that made a select few voters disproportionately vote for Israel, causing them to spike up in the ranking (almost winning the 2025 contest; JJ is our savior), and yet the EBU just doesn't even care about this? And when Russia did the whole "let's take all of Ukraine" move, it took 10 countries to immediately speak up for them to get suspended. Ukraine won that year btw. Like... if the EBU are gonna keep saying the Eurovision Song Contest is "apolitical", then they have to accept the harsh reality that making your participants be countries immediately makes it otherwise. And this is not the exception, it's the norm. Both the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup have had similar disrepute incidents in the past, most notably with apartheid South Africa.
Either way, if more countries drop out due to Israel's continued participate, that could ultimately result in enough awareness for the EBU to finally kick them out for good. Otherwise, the only solution is the privatization of their broadcaster, which literally nobody wants.
Also the commentator in the Israeli live broadcast called every artist who had called the war a genocide an anti-Semite on live tv. Yeah if the EBU wants their contest to stay apolitical than they need to ban the Israeli broadcaster for the commentator’s toxic comments.
This year in 2025, they even made fun of the Armenians. I can't remember exactly what they said, but it was definitely something along the lines of "I can't believe we gave these guys a quarter in Jerusalem"
I have ultimately lost faith in these commentators. So much for being an "independent reporter", EBU. I mean yeah, they're facing the threat of privatization, but for now they're public and state-owned, so there's literally no excuses here.
And FIFA and the IOC are repeating the same errors in 2026 and 2028
I mentioned both their competitions in my comment.
Oh wow, AVROTROS (the broadcaster) finally found a spine? Where was this last year after the incident with Joost Klein?
I don't think they found a spine so much as they've seen the turning of the tide in the media re: Israel Palestine conflict, with several major media outlets running pieces agreeing that it's a genocide in the last month or so (BBC, Sky, Reuters, etc).
Aside - I also would like to understand what the turning point was with these media groups where they suddenly pivoted from "Israel are purely defending themselves" to "this is a campaign of genocide". Its like they hit some arbitrary number. 67,026 = self defence, 67,027 = oh gosh oh wow that's genocide.
It’s a proxy war against the USA.
Nice. Go make a better one with Blackjack and Hookers (all genders).
Sure thing, Rick from Empire Glass.
Even after googling i dont know what you mean. Please elaborate.
https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/gunman-gets-life-in-rick-chance-murder/article_88a29648-5991-5d66-91e0-31397324e51a.html
There was a guy who owned a car windshield replacement company who would give away free dinners or diamond necklaces if you hired his company to replace your car's windshield.
He was found dead with two strippers/hookers, one of either sex, some cash, and one of the diamond necklaces his company would give out.
They are the 6th biggest contributor, and Spain has considered doing similar and they're one of the big five. It might actually change something since money will matter the most, and enough countries are dropping out that they may not have enough contestants to run the semi-finals. There's rumours that Italy, Germany, and Britain may withdraw if Israel is kicked out though. Maybe we just won't have a contest next year, and after the bullshit of the past two years I'm completely fine with that.
If Germany and Britain drop out, anyone could come last.
lol
The German song was the best one last year by far though. A banger
For sure, they shouldve been top 3 at least
Italy's songs are such shit with the exception of Måneskin, that I don't think anyone would miss us.
I want to know what France does.
it's just going to be israel and sweden left at this rate
Also Germany because of our special responsibility towards genocidal rogue states or something like that
Dear god, just take some sanctions like you did with Russia.
Russia bad, bad, bad. Israel good. Where is the problem, Citizen?
You have right, I'm sorry. And according to the famous actor/comedian Jerry Seinfeld, supporters of Palestine are worse than the KKK supporters.
You mean the same Jerry Seinfeld who was "dating" a 17-year-old high school student when he was 39? The one who was on TV a quarter of a century ago?
Because that dude can fuck himself.
I'm already trying to use AI to replace Jerry with Bassem Youssef's face in Seinfeld episodes.
There are already sanctions (violent settlers got their asset frozen, and are forbidden to fly to many countries). Problem is that they take that as a badge of honor, and they don't have enough outside assets to really be a problem to them.
We are asking to sanctions israel not just settler. Isrsel built thise settlements to begin with, thrn they armed the settlers than they protected them when they attack westbanker
Hunting the peasants instead of their bosses is on the same level as the Eurovision blockade to me.
Has nothing to do with Europe or the EU. One of their broadcasters is simply in the EBU, so they're allowed to participate.
I think Israel being in the European Broadcasting Union actually does have something do with Europe.
Surely it was a spontaneous development and not at all planned to whitewash Israeli fascism to a western audience
Israel (and most notably the Israeli company Moroccan Oil) is a big sponsor for the EBU, the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Only countries signed up with the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) can participate, and that’s not limited to European nations.
If I remember correctly, it's a European Broadcasting Union thing, and they're in cause there used to be a British colony there.
Israel is a European colony.
From what I've read, countries bordering the Mediterranean, including North-African countries, are allowed to compete, but they don't want to, mostly because they would have to broadcast the Israeli entry.
God promised them a song contest 3000 years ago, you heathens.
Meanwhile
https://slguardian.org/netherlands-signs-175-million-arms-deal-with-israeli-firm-elbit
https://paxforpeace.nl/news/military-cooperation-of-the-netherlands-with-israel-is-inappropriate
Probably different decisionmakers, but also not having a unified stance on Israel is kinda showing them as weak.
Can't wait for the UK, Germany, and France Song Contest. I bet France still gives us nul points. /j
Good. Good. If enough countries retire we may have a chance to win.
I don't know where you're from, but with a statement like that I can tell it isn't Ireland or Sweden. Those guys have had their share.
Is this the plasic straw of diplomacy?
I guess they should just do nothing then. Why is this always the immediate response whenever anyone begins to do the right thing?
They need to do their obligations under international law . Stop cooperating with the terrorist state doing it's final solution
https://slguardian.org/netherlands-signs-175-million-arms-deal-with-israeli-firm-elbit
https://paxforpeace.nl/news/military-cooperation-of-the-netherlands-with-israel-is-inappropriate
Would you say the same thing if during the holocust countries has some same weak response to a compaign of extermination?
Oh we did? Fucking nice! Many people didn't want to touch this, but I'm glad it went through anyway!
Okay, anyone got a map or list on this? Definitely curious on seeing who's still in and who's out, like that FightChatControl site