Israeli singer Yuval Raphael at this year's Eurovision red carpet launch

The last two Eurovision Song Contests have undoubtedly been among the most contentious in the competition’s history – and next year’s event is already looking just as controversial.

Israel’s continued presence at Eurovision despite the ongoing conflict in Gaza has faced backlash from many critics for some time, and with conversations ongoing about whether they will be returning in 2026, many countries in recent weeks have begun to suggest they will pull out if Israel remains a part of the contest.

Others, meanwhile, have said the opposite, defending Israel’s position at Eurovision, meaning next year’s competition is already at the centre of heated debate seven months before it’s even due to take place.

For those who need a quick reminder of what the whole debate is about, here’s a quick guide to what we know so far…

Hold on – first of all, why is Israel even part of the Eurovision Song Contest in the first place?

Well, despite what the name might imply, you don’t need actually to be part of Europe to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.

A country does need to be part of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), though, which Israel’s national broadcasters – first Israel Broadcasting Authority, and more recently, KAN – have been since the 1970s.

Israel has been competing in Eurovision since 1973, and in that time, it has won on four different occasions.

The most recent victory for Israel was as recently as 2018, when Netta triumphed with her song Toy, after which the contest was held in Tel Aviv.

Netta is the most recent act to win Eurovision for Israel

Previous Israeli champions have included back-to-back winners Alphabeta and Milk And Honey in 1978 and 1979, while Dana International made history as the contest’s first transgender victor in 1998.

Like Israel, Australia is also a Eurovision contender despite not being in Europe, initially joining the competition as a one-off for its 60th anniversary in 2015, but later returning every year since.

How far back does the backlash about Israel at Eurovision stretch?

In short, further than you might think, but the conversation was really amplified in 2019, when the competition took place in Israel for the first time in over a decade, prompting calls for a boycott.

This conversation has grown even louder in the last two years as the conflict in Gaza has intensified, leading many to call for Israel’s expulsion, similar to how Russia was banned in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.

What has happened with Israel at the last two Eurovision Song Contests?

In the lead-up to the event in 2024, an increasing number of Eurovision fans began urging organisers to remove Israel as a competitor as a result of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Ultimately, Eurovision bosses chose to keep Israel as part of the contest, which led to calls for an overall boycott of the broadcast, which was backed by the Palestine-led BDS movement. In the UK, Eurovision dropped around a quarter of its viewership in 2024 compared to the previous year’s broadcast, though it’s worth pointing out that the previous year, the competition had actually taken place in the UK for the first time in a quarter-century.

A handful of acts, including the UK’s own Olly Alexander, issued a joint statement in the weeks leading up to the event, calling for peace in the Middle East but maintaining that they would not be withdrawing from Eurovision.

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