ORF announced the vote on Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2026 may be delayed or canceled due to a hostage release deal and war’s end
Against the backdrop of reports about a deal to end the war, it was revealed today (Thursday) that the vote regarding Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2026, to be held in Vienna, Austria, may be postponed or even canceled.
Austria finds itself at the center of a political storm ahead of Eurovision 2026 due to uncertainty over Israel’s participation in the upcoming contest in Vienna. U.S. President Donald Trump announced last night a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. According to a report by the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, ORF faces a dilemma worth €40 million: whether to refuse hosting the major event if Israel is ultimately barred from participating. After Austria’s victory in the last Eurovision in Basel, ORF took on significant responsibility and committed to staging Eurovision 2026. If it fails to fulfill that commitment and declares it unwilling to host the contest without Israel’s participation, the broadcaster will incur a €40 million fine.
Despite this significant penalty, Austria remains one of Israel’s strongest supporters in the Eurovision framework. ORF CEO Roland Weißmann made it unequivocally clear that the broadcaster fully supports the participation of KAN in the contest to be held in Vienna. The Austrian Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Sepp Schellhorn, expressed even stronger support, stating in an interview that calls to boycott Israel are “stupid and pointless”. Schellhorn added: “Above all, this is a competition between musicians and artists. Confusing their role with a country’s politics seems to me very problematic”.
Postponement of the Vote to Expel Israel
Next Monday, the EBU will hold another discussion regarding Eurovision 2026. Currently, the vote on Israel’s participation is scheduled for early November. According to sources within the Austrian national broadcaster, the vote might be postponed and perhaps even become unnecessary and be canceled altogether due to recent political developments. Will the vote be deferred? Could it be canceled? We will have to wait and see.
Israel at Eurovision 2025
“New Day Will Rise” is the song performed by Yuval Raphael, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the 11th season of “HaKokhav HaBa”. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 203 points and finished second overall with 436 points in the grand final. Israel ranked first in the public vote but only 14th with the jury. This marks the third consecutive year that Israel has reached the top five – an unprecedented achievement.
Eurovision 2025: This was Israel’s 47th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the contest in 1973 and has won four times. Its most recent victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy”, performed by singer Netta Barzilai.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +972-50-9441919
Maor Heumann has been writing about the Eurovision Song Contest and following it for over three decades. He has attended five contests and has found something to appreciate in almost every possible musical genre — from the sugary pop entries that finish last in the semi-finals to the quirky avant-garde pieces that even the competition’s juries struggled to connect with. He usually prefers original languages and songs with depth over Swedish-produced English clones — though he doesn’t promise to stick to that rule.
He grew up on the kibbutz of Sara’le Sharon, who instilled in him a love for music and created his first connection to the contest back in 1993 — before most of the current editorial team was even born.
