Many viewers say no – but often this is because of geography rather than politics
With Israeli actions in Gaza angering many across the West in recent months, there have been calls for the country to be kicked out of this year’s Eurovision, including from two Belgian culture ministers in March.
Now our latest Eurotrack survey asks Europeans whether or not they feel that Israel should be allowed to compete. While many say they should not, the reasons why are often geographical rather than political.
In each of the seven countries surveyed, 40-59% said that Israel should not be allowed to compete in Eurovision, compared to 23-37% who think they should be allowed.
However, those who actually intend to watch Eurovision this year are slightly more likely to say that Israel should be allowed to compete. German viewers in particular are likely to say that Israel should be allowed to remain in the contest, at 49% – the only group for which this figure outnumbers the opposing view (38%).
Why do Europeans want to see Israel excluded from Eurovision?
Israel is of course mostly in the news for the conflict in Gaza, which is the basis for the calls to ban it from Eurovision. But is this what is motivating public opinion?
Yes, to an extent. Asked why they thought Israel should not be allowed in Eurovision, between 38% and 65% in each country say it is because of the nation’s actions in Gaza. Among those who actually intend to watch this year's contest that say Israel should not be allowed to compete, that justification stands between 47% and 69% in each country.
However, typically people are more likely to say that Israel’s geographic location is the reason they don’t think it should be allowed to compete.
In fact, the number of those who want to exclude Israel that *solely* cite Gaza as a reason why stands at a notably reduced rate of 21-36%, including 12-20% among Eurovision viewers specifically.
More want to see Israel excluded than other neighbouring Eurovision competitors
But are the rates at which people want to exclude Israel unique to that country? Eurovision famously has some distinctly non-European nations, the most obvious being Australia, which joined the contest in 2015.
The answer depends. Looking at the opinion of those who intend to watch this year’s Eurovision specifically, we can see that viewers are notably less likely to want to exclude other countries that, like Israel, are slightly over Europe’s geographical borders, such as Cyprus and Turkey in the Middle East (the former being a current competitor, with the latter having previously been so) and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the South Caucasus.
However, attitudes towards the mediterranean states in North Africa - Morocco (which was a contestant on one occasion in 1980) and Tunisia (which never has been, but once attempted to join) - are more mixed.
When it comes to Australia, the most far-flung Eurovision participant, results are again mixed – Britons, Danes and Germans are slightly more likely to say Australia shouldn’t be allowed to compete than Israel, while French, Italians, Spaniards and Swedes are more likely to say Australia doesn’t belong.
In all European countries surveyed people are more likely to say Russia – which was a competitor until the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – should not be allowed to compete than say so of Israel.
For other far-flung nations that are not currently Eurotrack participants, in almost every case viewers are more reluctant to have China and India participate than they are Israel, while opinion differs on American nations (Argentina, Canada and the USA), whose participation British, Danish and Swedish viewers are particularly opposed to.
See the results among the full samples here and among viewers only here
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Photo: Eurovision
