Noam Bettan from Israel, center, reacts as the points are awarded during the Grand Final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Iceland joins Ireland in announcing plans to skip Eurovision over Israel’s inclusion in the contest.
By World Israel News Staff
Iceland said that it would skip the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest should Israel be permitted to participate in the competition, following a boycott of the event in 2026 for the same reason.
On Wednedsay, Iceland’s public broadcaster RUV made a public statmeent notifying that it plnned to continue the boycott should Israel not be banned.
After a vote, the majority of RUV’s board members agreed “to notify the EBU that the Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation will not participate in Eurovision in 2027 unless Israel is barred from participating in the competition,” RUV said in a media statement.
“The previous call to the EBU [European Broadcasting Union] that Israel be expelled from the competition is reiterated and it is requested that the radio director convey that reiteration,” the broadcaster added.
Last year, Icelabnd — along with Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia — chose to sit out the competition rather than compete against an Israeli contestant.
Notably, the Netherlands — which participated in last year’s boycott — has quietly dropped the boycott, and is planning to reutrn to Eurovision 2027, whether or not Israel competes.
Irealnd has alreayd announced that it will contijnue boycotting the contest, with spain and slovenia yet to make public statemnets regarding their plans for next year’s contest.
In 2026, Israeli Noam Bettan placed second in the competition, following a number of consecutive years in which Israelis placed in the top five.
In 2018, Israeli singer Neta Barzilay won the contest, and the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest was accordingly held in Tel Aviv.
The Eurovision Song Contest calrified earlier this year that it would not permit countries involved in armed conflcit to host the contest, even if they win the competition.
When Ukraine won the contest in 2022, the contest was held in the UK, which held the runner-up spot, due to the Russian invasion.
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