|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Ireland will boycott Eurovision for a second straight year over Israel’s participation, public broadcaster RTÉ announced on Thursday. It will neither participate in nor broadcast the 2027 contest in Bulgaria.
RTÉ tied the decision to the war in Gaza. “RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation cannot be justified given the appalling and ongoing loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
Martin Green, Eurovision’s director, said, “We regret that RTÉ will not be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, but we fully respect their decision,” adding that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Eurovision’s organizing body, would “remain in dialogue with RTÉ and hope to welcome them back to the Contest in the future.”
Ireland was among five countries that boycotted the 2026 contest, alongside the Netherlands, Spain, Iceland and Slovenia, after an EBU vote allowed Israel to compete.
The Netherlands’ AVROTROS said last month it would not return for 2027 either, and its national umbrella broadcaster, NPO, is exploring whether a different Dutch station could field the country’s entry in its place. Iceland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium have yet to announce their participation decisions.
Each of the three Eurovision contests held since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7th massacre has drawn large-scale protests against Israel’s delegation and required heightened security.
Take Action
CAM has launched Report It, a secure app to report antisemitic incidents anonymously and in real time. Don’t stay silent. Download it today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. See it. Report it. Stop it.
