Kronen Zeitung reports that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) will hold a vote in November to determine whether Israel will be able to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
According to a letter published by the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, the President of the EBU, Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, has confirmed that a vote on Israeli broadcaster KAN’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in November. The letter explains that Petr Dvořák, the former President of the EBU, was tasked with creating a report on the matter of Eurovision 2026 based on feedback from the EBU’s member broadcasters. In the report, a variety of views from members were shared, and as a result, it was identified that “it would not be possible to reach a consensual position on KAN’s participation.”
The letter to members states:
“Given that the Union has never faced a divisive situation like this before, the Board agreed that this question merited a broader democratic basis for a decision, whereby all Members should be given a voice.
Consequently, the Board decided to organize an extraordinary session of the General Assembly that would take place online in early November for Members to vote on the question of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.”
The Israeli broadcaster KAN has subsequently released a statement regarding the vote being organised. You can read more here.
There has been significant debate regarding the Eurovision Song Contest and how it functions as well as whether Israel should be allowed to compete in the contest. Following the conclusion of the 2025 contest on May 17, several broadcasters contacted the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to request details of voting numbers. RTVE (Spain), VRT (Belgium), RÚV (Iceland), Yle (Finland), and RTÉ (Ireland) all raised questions regarding the voting at the contest. AVROTROS and NPO in the Netherlands also raised queries regarding the current state of the Eurovision Song Contest.
On May 23, the Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, released an open letter regarding Eurovision 2025. In the letter, he outlined that the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group will review the voting data during June. In addition, they will review the promotion of our participants by their delegations and associated parties and discuss whether the public vote should continue to allow up to 20 votes to be cast.
In July at the EBU General Assembly in London, the matter of Israeli participation was raised with a number of members sharing their views on the matter. Since late August, RTVSLO (Slovenia), RTÉ (Ireland), AVROTROS (Netherlands) and RTVE (Spain) have all stated that they would not compete if Israel takes part in the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, while RÚV (Iceland) has stated it may withdraw.
Image Source: Broadcast TV | Source: Kronen Zeitung
