Eurovision winner JJ has called for Israel to be excluded from the contest when it arrives in Austria in 2026. (Getty)
The Eurovision Song Contest’s 2025 winner JJ has called for Israel to be banned from the competition when it is held in his home country Austria in 2026.
At the Eurovision final on Saturday (17 May), Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael came first in the public vote, but JJ’s combined public and jury vote score meant he claimed overall victory with his song “Wasted Love”.
While this year’s Eurovision entrants were barred from speaking negatively about other participating delegates during the contest, they are free to share their opinions now that the glass trophy has been won.
“It’s very disappointing to see Israel still participating in the competition,” winner JJ told Spanish newspaper El País.
“I would like Eurovision to be held in [Austria’s capital city] Vienna next year, without Israel. But the ball is in the EBU’s court. We, the artists, can only speak out on the matter.”
The EBU’s decision to allow Israel to compete in the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland, prompted protests on the ground, with protestors gathering along Eurovision’s famous turquoise carpet to boo Raphael.
Protestors also clashed with police in Basel on the night of the grand finale, ahead of Raphael’s performance of her ballad “New Day Will Rise”.
Over 70 former Eurovision stars, including the UK’s Mae Muller, signed an open letter ahead of the 2025 contest calling for Israel to be banned from taking part, while last year’s winner for Switzerland, Nemo, said it “doesn’t make sense” for the country to still be part of the Eurovision line-up.
The controversy surrounding Israel’s continued involvement in Eurovision comes amid ongoing conflict between the Israeli government and Palestinian nationalist group Hamas.
In October 2023, Hamas undertook an attack on the Nova music festival which left 1,195 people dead and at least 250 Israeli citizens and soldiers taken hostage. Israel’s following bombardment of Gaza has killed in excess of 50,000 people. A peer-reviewed study published in the medical journal The Lancet put the Palestinian death toll considerably higher.
Israel has seen international criticism for its continued military action on Gaza, which includes the blockade of humanitarian aid causing food and medical shortages in the region.
JJ calls for ‘changes’ to televoting in 2026
Following his win, JJ also called for changes to the Eurovision voting system to increase “transparency” in the public vote.
“[Eurovision] needs to make changes to the voting system,” the singer said.
“There should be greater transparency regarding the televoting. This year, everything was very strange about it.”
A number of participating countries including Ireland, Spain and Finland have called for an examination of the public voting system, raising questions over the legitimacy of Israel’s success in the 2025 public vote.
The country was ranked 14th position in the jury vote, before skyrocketing into first place after the results of the televoting were announced.
Eurovision organiser the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has since said that the vote was checked and verified independently.
The contest organisers have consistently maintained that the song contest is an apolitical event, a claim which has been called into question since Russia was barred from partaking in 2022 due to its war on Ukraine.
Eurovision director Martin Green has said that those protesting the event over Israel’s inclusion have a “right” to do so.
“It’s a free country and a democracy, and everybody has a right to their opinion… The people that were out there today did it peacefully and respectfully… They have every right to do that,” he said on the Eurotrip Podcast.
Where will Eurovision 2026 take place?
As JJ managed to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Eurovision 2026 will be held in his home country Austria.
Though JJ has expressed a desire for Eurovision 2026 to be held in the Austrian capital city Vienna, this has not yet been confirmed.
The host city is usually confirmed over the summertime.
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