Which countries are boycotting the song contest and can it survive?

Thursday saw the biggest crisis in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Four countries withdrew Israel will continue to participate in the competition, and more may follow.

The province includes Ireland, who have won seven times – a tally matched only by Sweden – and the Netherlands, winners five times.

Spain, one of the competition’s biggest financial backers, and Slovenia also exited.

The dispute reveals a deep rift within the Eurovision family. This is a situation that has been looming for years, amid mounting tensions over Israel’s behavior during the war in Gaza.

There was also consternation over the voting process and election campaigning after Israel came out on top in the public vote this year, coming in second place overall after jury votes were taken into account.

Meanwhile, Israel described the decision to keep it in the competition as a “victory” over critics who tried to silence it and spread hatred.

Thursday’s summit with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) highlighted divisions within the Eurovision family.

There was no direct vote on Israel’s place in Eurovision, but the country’s future participation was effectively linked to a vote among broadcasters on Proposed new rules For election campaigns and public voting.

Sixty-five percent of EBU members voted in favor of this change. Ten percent abstained from voting.

Roland Weismann, director general of public broadcaster Austria, next year’s host country, said there were heated discussions, but it was a fair process.

He told the BBC: “We argued and listened to others’ arguments, and then we held a secret vote.” “This is democracy, and the majority voted for new, stronger rules through a song contest.”

The result also means that Israel is eligible to compete, but it prompted others to withdraw.

According to Spain, the crisis could have been avoided. “It was never meant to get to this point,” the RTVE head said in an angry social media post ahead of Thursday’s summit.

Jose Pablo Lopez said he had lost confidence in Eurovision organizers, saying they were influenced by “political and commercial interests.”

He added that regulators should have addressed the alleged Israeli manipulation of the public vote, and should have led to sanctions “at the executive level”, rather than requiring EBU members to decide on any consequences.

Israel denies trying to influence voting in the competition, and says its advertising campaigns were acceptable within Eurovision rules.

Other countries that could join the boycott include Iceland, which said it would not confirm its participation until its board meeting next week.

On Friday, Belgium and Sweden, which were among the countries weighing their positions, confirmed they would remain in the competition.

Finland said its attendance was conditional on Eurovision securing “a significant number” of other participants, adding: “The costs of participating organizations must not increase unreasonably.”

Dean Vulich, an author and Eurovision academic, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Friday: “The next two weeks will be tense as countries confirm whether or not they will participate in next year’s Eurovision.”

“But I think we will see more boycotts.”

The deadline for countries to confirm their participation is Wednesday, December 10.

Amid all this drama, there is a small detail in the EBU press release that sheds some light on why so many countries are keen to keep Israel’s broadcaster, Can, in the competition.

During a “wide-ranging discussion,” their fellow broadcasters “took the opportunity to stress the importance of protecting the independence of public media and the freedom of the press to report, especially in conflict areas such as Gaza,” the report said.

This is because Kan TV is independent from the Israeli government, and has often found itself at odds with the administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Public broadcasters are involved, not states,” ORF’s Weissman said. “It’s not the government of Israel, it’s the public broadcaster.”

Cannes’ association with Eurovision is believed to have protected it from threats of closure or cutbacks – because the government recognizes the positive PR power of participating in the competition.

Had Israel been excluded on Thursday, there could have been a future in which the country’s access to a free press could be at risk.

The impact on funding will be a key question for regulators. Spain was one of the “Big Five” countries that automatically qualified for the final, due to the size of its financial contribution to organizing the competition.

In recent years, this figure has ranged from 334,000 euros to 348,000 euros, according to figures published by the Spanish broadcaster RTVE.

Now other countries will have to foot the bill – although the costs are supposed to be shared among all competitors, with France, Germany, Italy and the UK taking the lion’s share.

If other countries withdraw, the cost to each competing country will presumably rise.

“Losing some of the biggest financial contributors has a huge impact, and it also has a ripple effect on some of the smaller countries,” says Jess Carnell of the University of Southern Queensland, a Eurovision researcher.

“So maybe that means we might have a smaller offering [in 2026]unless the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation can raise more money to make sure it’s still a spectacle.

All of this means that the competition is badly injured, but the injuries are not fatal…yet.

Thursday was “a very seismic day in Eurovision history”, according to Calum Rowe from The Euro Trip podcast.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live that fans were “equally prepared and devastated by what has happened”.

“We are losing countries that have a long history of competition.”

Rowe said that the four boycotting countries will not change their minds before the elections scheduled for next May in Vienna.

“Whether they will change their mind for 2027 is another question. If they see Israel not doing well at Eurovision in 2026, they might think, oh, well, the rule changes did what they were supposed to do. But I think it’s hard to say at this point.”

Eurovision director Martin Green estimates that 35 countries will continue to participate next year in Vienna.

The loss of four competitors is offset by the return of three others – Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria – who were absent for the past two years.

The dispute will cast a long shadow over the competition next year, and perhaps in the coming years as well.

With much of the music industry throwing its weight behind Palestinian issues, it may be more difficult than usual to find artists willing to share the stage with Israel.

The competition did not live up to its slogan, “Music unites us.”

But Mr Wiseman insisted he did not believe the boycott would harm Eurovision as it approaches its 70th anniversary in 2026.

“It was built 10 years after World War II – united by music – and that’s what it’s all about.

“It is a difficult situation all over the world due to crises [and] “Wars, and it is our job now to stay in touch, to listen to each other, to argue – but then to find democratic ways of dealing with them.”

However, it is now difficult to see how the ties that were severed on Thursday can be restored.