Ireland boycotts Eurovision for second year over Israel’s inclusion

Public broadcaster says country’s participation cannot be justified amid ‘appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza’.

Al JazeeraDaniel Khalili-Tari2026-09-17 15:40查看原文 ↗

Public broadcaster RTE says the country’s participation cannot be justified amid ‘appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza’.

Pro-Palestinian and Iranian activists gather to demonstrate against Israel's participation in this year's Eurovision Song Contest on May 16, 2026 in Vienna, Austria [Heinz-Peter Bader/Getty Images]

Ireland has become the second country, after the Netherlands, to announce a boycott of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s participation.

Irish public broadcaster RTE said in a statement on Thursday that the country’s participation could not be justified “given the appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza” and that the humanitarian crisis in the enclave “continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk”.

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RTE, which manages Ireland’s selection and participation in Eurovision, added that it remained “deeply concerned by the continued denial of independent access [for] international journalists to the territory”.

The decision marks the second consecutive year that Ireland will neither participate in nor broadcast the competition, which is the world’s most popular television music show.

Earlier this month, Eurovision organisers said they were excluding any country involved in an armed conflict from hosting the competition.

However, the Dutch public broadcaster Avrotros said the exclusion of countries in conflict was not “sufficient”.

Avrotros announced last month that it was withdrawing from the 2027 competition.

It said Eurovision could “no longer be considered neutral” given Israel’s participation in “a large-scale military conflict” in Gaza.

Both Ireland and the Netherlands were among five countries that withdrew from Eurovision 2026 in Vienna earlier this year. Spain, Slovenia and Iceland also decided not to participate.

Eurovision Director Martin Green said on Thurday that organisers “fully respect” Ireland’s decision and that they “will be missed”.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is at its best when broadcasters and their artists from different countries come together to share music, celebrate creativity and create connections between audiences,” Green said.

“That power to bring people together is at the heart of what makes the Contest so special, and is even more important now in an increasingly difficult and divided world.”

The 2026 show, which Bulgaria won, attracted 132 million viewers, 34 million fewer than its 2025 edition.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the venue in the Austrian capital during the final in mid-May to oppose Israel’s participation.

The European Broadcasting Union organises the annual music competition. It has faced accusations of applying a double standard for refusing to exclude Israel, despite banning Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

爱尔兰公共广播公司RTE表示，鉴于“加沙地带持续不断的骇人听闻的生命损失”，该国参与此次行动是没有正当理由的。

2026年5月16日，在奥地利维也纳，亲巴勒斯坦和伊朗的活动人士聚集在一起，抗议以色列参加今年的欧洲歌唱大赛。[Heinz-Peter Bader/Getty Images]

继荷兰之后，爱尔兰成为第二个宣布抵制明年欧洲歌唱大赛的国家，原因是以色列将参加该赛事。

爱尔兰公共广播公司RTE周四发表声明称，鉴于加沙地带“持续不断的人员伤亡”，该国参与此次行动是没有正当理由的，而且该飞地的人道主义危机“继续危及众多平民的生命”。

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欧洲歌唱大赛将禁止交战国举办赛事（共3项，此为第2项）：这意味着什么

荷兰公共广播公司抵制“不再”保持中立的欧洲歌唱大赛（名单共3份，此为第3份）。

负责爱尔兰选拔和参加欧洲歌唱大赛的爱尔兰国家广播电视台 (RTE) 还表示，他们仍然“对国际记者持续被剥夺独立进入该地区的权利深感担忧”。

这一决定标志着爱尔兰连续第二年既不参加也不转播这项全球最受欢迎的电视音乐节目。

本月初，欧洲歌唱大赛组织者表示，他们将禁止任何卷入武装冲突的国家举办该赛事。

然而，荷兰公共广播公司 Avrotros 表示，将冲突国家排除在外是“不够的”。

Avrotros上个月宣布将退出2027年的比赛。