The organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest have announced significant changes to the voting system, following allegations of “interference” by the Israeli government.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Geneva-based body overseeing the event, said on Friday that these revisions are “designed to strengthen trust, transparency and audience engagement”.
Israel has been a participant in Eurovision for more than five decades, securing four victories.
However, its involvement has recently faced intense scrutiny, with growing calls for its exclusion due to the actions of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza.
The allegations of Israeli governmental interference introduce a new dimension to the ongoing controversy surrounding the competition.
In September, Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS, citing human suffering in the Gaza war, said that it could no longer justify Israel’s participation in the contest. Several other countries took a similar stance.
The Dutch broadcaster went on to say there had been “proven interference by the Israeli government during the last edition of Eurovision, with the event being used as a political instrument”.
The statement did not elaborate on that allegation.
That same month, Golan Yochpaz, the CEO of Israeli public broadcaster Kan, said that there was “no reason why we should not continue to be a significant part of this cultural event, which must not become political”.
Kan also said then that it was “convinced” that the EBU “will continue to maintain the apolitical, professional and cultural character of the competition, especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Eurovision” in 2026.
As part of the new Eurovision measures, in next year’s contest, which is scheduled to take place in May in Vienna, the number of votes per payment method will be reduced by half to 10, the EBU said.
In addition, “professional juries” will return to the semifinals for the first time since 2022. That is a move that will give roughly 50-50 percentage weight between audience and jury votes, it said.
Organisers will also enhance safeguards to thwart “suspicious or coordinated voting activity” and strengthen security systems that “monitor, detect and prevent fraudulent patterns”, EBU said.
Contest director Martin Green said that the neutrality and integrity of the competition are of “paramount importance” to the EBU, its members and audiences, adding that the event “should remain a neutral space and must not be instrumentalised”.
The EBU’s general assembly on 4 & 5 December is poised to consider whether Israel can participate in 2026.
A vote on that participation will only take place if member broadcasters decide the new steps are “not sufficient”, Mr Green said.
