Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Just to be clear, Russia weren't banned from the Eurovision, they suspended their membership of the EBU. They were suspended and likely to be thrown out of the EBU due to their spread of misinformation. The EBU is non-political but also don't allow such misinformation amongst its members

The only way Israel can be banned from competing is if KAN (the Israeli national broadcaster and EBU member) are found to have been spreading misinformation in Israel. It's not quite as simple as kicking the bad people out and isn't comparable to Russia's exit

Could an independent take part? I don't see why RTE should get to decide if the country as a whole doesn't participate, just that they refuse to get involved.

Long overdue but credit to RTE for making the right decision in the end. It appears Spain and Slovenia will do the same and hopefully others will follow until Israel's removal.

RTÉ is entitled to decide as are all the other national broadcasters that are members of the EBU.

I believe Spain is seriously considering this so watch this space!

Only members of the EBU can take part. The only other Irish member is TG4. So they could send an act and broadcast the competition but I'd imagine it would be done on a small enough budget

If the Irish men's soccer team pull off a miracle and finish 2nd in their group stages they could potentially meet Israel in a playoff. Should they boycott such a game and effectively rule ourselves out of the world cup?

Admittedly this scenario would require numerous miracles so I am only saying hypothetically

The inaugural 1956 competition had 7 countries, I think that's the lowest it ever was. I assume that having 2 countries is theoretically all you'd need

Make no mistake that Ireland and Spain (one of the big 5) threatening to walk is huge. SLovenia, Netherlands and Iceland might all swing that way as well. The EBU have already extended the deadline for participation to December so they are taking this quite seriously.

I don't think there's much the EBU can do though unless evidence of misinformation spreading or some other rules being broken by KAN can be found.

You know Spain is a big 5 member right?

Alongside France, Germany, Italy and the UK for future reference

skim over the 2025 thread, or any previous Eurovision thread and you’ll see 😉

…and I think they can go all the way.

What happened to Next in Line, btw?

Now reduced to saying… next in line… from behind the counter of whatever service industry they're working in?

(am sure they are a grand bunch of lads, but were given a hospital pass by people who should know better)

Don't forget, the international jury also gave Samantha Mumba top points this year. The devil works hard, but Louis Walsh works harder…

It was such a sliding doors moment for us though, we could have sent Next in Line, who would have finished last in their semi, but we went for someone that people are talking about (in a positive way) and got us our best result in years.

They have said they will not participate if Israel does. So we either participate or Israel does. Israel have stated already that they will seek to participate so it's up to the EBU

Applications close in December so nothing will be certain until then

Fair enough

I'd be very surprised if the Spanish didn't do as ourselves and Slovenia after all the talk. Italy haven't actually officially confirmed their participation yet but that has nothing to do with Israel, and France have said nothing either way just yet

For what it's worth, last years viewing and voting figures were down across the board and there was clearly a lot of pro-Israel voting pacts going on all across Europe so it would suit the EBU financially to kick them out.

ESCGabe is reliable though, one of the better bloggers. He's also Jewish and has spoken several times of the abuse he has been receiving from Israeli fans as a "traitor to his people."

Surely the vote can't wait until December? I mean, I know it's the EBU but surely they can see it needs to happen sooner.

I wonder if someone from the EBU is on the phone to Bucharest, Chisinau and Sarajevo this afternoon…"Please come back, pretty please, we'll even pay your airfare and everything…" Kazakhstan has been keen to join for a while but for reasons I can't recall, the EBU hasn't let them (despite them participating at Junior Eurovision), so there might be a call to Almaty this evening too. And Monaco and Andorra too…"Luxembourg has some back and has qualified both years, so microstates have a chance now."