Dutch broadcast company AVROTROS has announced that the Netherlands will boycott the 2026 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is allowed to compete. The Netherlands is the fifth country to announce a planned boycott of the event, which is scheduled to be held in Vienna.

“AVROTROS can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza,” the company said in a statement. The organization manages Dutch participation and broadcast rights for the competition as part of the Dutch public broadcasting umbrella, NPO.

AVROTROS stated that they have been in discussions with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) regarding Israel’s participation in 2026. The broadcaster added that they are also concerned about the “serious erosion of press freedom,” citing the interference by the Israeli government in last year’s edition, claiming that the event was used as a “political instrument.”

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[–] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And yet Germany and Italy are threatening to boycott if Israel is not included.

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago

    The dam has broken.

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    The fact that Israel, a supposedly Asian country, is in all these European cultural associations really gives the game away.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Israel (and Australia) not being in Europe was already irritating enough.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago*

    well that’s just a misunderstanding about what the completion is… australia, yeah i agree that’s a bit out of the blue but im glad we’re part of it… however, the point is “EBC members + a few” and israel is part of the EBC

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The Australia thing is because the competition is huge over there, so as a 50th anniversary special the EBC let them take part. And it just kinda stuck.

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  • Part of this is that we've been an associate member of the EBU since 1950 with our ABC and 1979 for the SBS, the current participant broadcaster. I really don't see a good reason for it not to expand outside of Europe.

    Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco are all active members of the EBU and so could decide to compete without needing to be invited.

    The list of associate members that could be invited by the EBU is even longer; Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, South Korea and Syria. You could make it a real global affair, and a place for peace. Especially if you didn't give countries currently engaged in war a platform.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Finally, justice for Joost Kleine.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] [S] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    my inner pessimist is expecting a change of heart at the 11th hour given how some of these gov't had made recognition of palestine conditional on circumstamces that will never come to pass.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I will boycott it too, like I do every year.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    I hope more countries do this. Israel should not be invited to anywhere.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    We're up to Spain, Ireland and The Netherlands now. Gonna be interesting.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    All this disdain for genocide is so antisemitic.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Let's hope that we have a domino effect with other countries boycotting too. Sometimes the wider public just need to have this drawn to their attention.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Last year would've been a better time for this threat, but I guess this is better than nothing.

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  • [+] 5 points 1 year ago
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Honestly, one should boycott Eurovision anyway. I don’t have the time or patience for empire.

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