BBC back decision to let Israel take part in Eurovision

Before the meeting, the BBC had said Eurovision has “never been about politics”

Around 50 broadcasters in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organiser of the contest, took part in a meeting on Thursday, where they voted against a separate vote on banning Israel from the competition.

This meeting was also attended by the outgoing BBC director-general, Tim Davie.

In the meeting, the broadcasters backed the new rules to stop government meddling in Eurovision.

A spokesman of the BBC said that “we support the collective decision made by members of the EBU. This is about enforcing the rules of the EBU and being inclusive”.

However, the BBC refused to comment on how it voted.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer seemed to back Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision, as on Friday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “More broadly Eurovision is a non-political celebration of music and culture and it brings countries together. And we, of course, support participation by as many parties as possible. But again, decisions on participation are matter for the EBU and its members.”

Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, said that his country “deserves to be represented on every stage around the world”, after the country’s participation was confirmed by national broadcaster Kan.

Israel finished second at this year’s Eurovision, driven by the public's votes.

This prompted criticism from several countries, who said Israel had artificially boosted its support through a broad, paid-for advertising campaign urging Europeans to vote for their entry.

As a result of the war in Gaza, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced they were boycotting the contest due to Israel’s inclusion.

Meanwhile, Iceland has threatened they would announce their refusal to take part in next year’s Eurovision before Thursday’s meeting, and Finland was reported to be preparing for a similar move.

On the other hand, next year’s host Austria warned that they would withdraw should Israel be kicked out of the competition, which means that the European Broadcasting Union would have to search for a new host city before May of next year.

The participation in next year’s contest should be confirmed until mid-December by the competing broadcasters.