Iceland has become the fifth country to boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest after Israel was given the go-ahead to compete, deepening the crisis facing the competition.
The board of the national broadcaster, RÚV, voted on Wednesday not to participate, meaning Iceland will join Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Ireland in neither participating in nor broadcasting the event, which is scheduled to take place in Vienna.
Last week the contest’s organising body, the European Broadcasting Union, declined to expel Israel over its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
RÚV said in a statement that “given the public debate in this country … it is clear that neither joy nor peace will prevail regarding the participation of RÚV in Eurovision. It is therefore the conclusion of RÚV to notify the EBU today that RÚV will not take part in Eurovision next year.”
RÚV added that it had raised concerns numerous times with the EBU, which it felt had not been addressed.
The war in Gaza has caused ructions at Eurovision, spurring protests outside venues and forcing organisers to clamp down on political flag-waving.
The EBU held a general assembly last week, where members met to discuss concerns about Israel’s participation. Members voted to adopt tougher contest voting rules in response to allegations that Israel manipulated the vote in favour of their contestants, but took no action to exclude any broadcaster from the competition.
The walkouts cast a cloud over the future of what’s meant to be a feelgood cultural party, dealing a blow to fans, broadcasters and the contest’s finances.
Before the board meeting, RÚV’s vice-chair, Diljá Ámundadóttir Zöega, gave a hint of things to come. “Today is International Human Rights Day and I think the outcome will be in that spirit,“ she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Poland confirmed it would be participating in the contest. Its national broadcaster said: “We are aware of the scale of tension surrounding the upcoming edition. We understand the emotions and concerns. However, we believe that Eurovision still has a chance to once again become a space filled with music. And only music. We, like the overwhelming majority of EBU members, offer this opportunity.”
Germany and Austria have also confirmed they will be taking part, arguing that Eurovision was conceived as an apolitical song contest to unite Europe.
RTÉ, the Irish broadcaster, said participation was “unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there” while RTVE in Spain said participating would engender “distrust” in the organisation given the depth of feeling over Gaza.
Spain’s culture minister, Ernest Urtasun, backed the boycott. He said: “You can’t whitewash Israel given the genocide in Gaza. Culture should be on the side of peace and justice.”
