Yuval Raphael, who represented Israel at Eurovision in 2025

The Netherlands has become the third country to explicitly say it will not compete at Eurovision in 2026 if Israel remains part of the event.

Debate around Israel’s involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest has been going on some time now due to the political situation in the Middle East.

However, the debate has become much more widespread in the last two years, leading many fans to boycott the event completely in 2024 and 2025 due to Israel’s continued presence, while several participating broadcasters have raised concerns about the situation in recent history.

Last week, Slovenia’s national broadcaster said it will only return to Eurovision in 2026 if Israel is banned, similarly to how Russia has not been invited to take part in the competition since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ireland followed suit earlier this week, with Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS releasing its own statement on Thursday.

Dutch singer Claude represented The Netherlands at Eurovision in 2025

“AVROTROS can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the........

© HuffPost