Eurovision: UK ought to withdraw if Israel takes half

The UK ought to withdraw from Eurovision 2026 if Israel participates, musician and songwriter Phil Coulter has stated.

This would observe the lead of the Irish broadcaster, RTÉ, which has said it will not take part if Israel does “given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza”.

Mr Coulter stated he was “100% behind RTÉ” of their choice to withdraw from the competition, and that folks within the UK and Ireland are each “disgusted by what’s going on in Gaza”.

He has written or co-written a number of songs for Eurovision, together with the UK’s profitable track “Puppet on a String” in 1967, which singer Jade Thirlwall used a pattern of in a track final 12 months.

The BBC has declined to remark.

RTÉ will make a ultimate choice as soon as the Eurovision organiser, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), makes its choice.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme, Mr Coulter stated he feels “very strongly” about Ireland not collaborating in Eurovision if Israel does, as a result of ongoing battle in Gaza.

“Musicians, songwriters and performers are human beings with consciences.

“I feel the one wise factor and the one respectable factor for RTÉ to do is to withdraw from the competition if Israel is allowed to carry out.”

He stated there was a “double normal” that Israel being allowed to participate whereas Russia was expelled from the 2022 contest due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What’s the distinction between that tragic occasion and what’s occurring in Gaza?” Mr Coulter asked.

He also said that the BBC should take a similar position to RTÉ and not participate in next year’s Eurovision.

“I feel it’s a query of conscience, and as RTÉ have made this step – it displays the sensation of most people and I’m fairly positive that all through the United Kingdom persons are equally disgusted by what is going on on in Gaza,” Mr Coulter told the programme.

Asked later to clarify whether he meant the BBC should withdraw if Israel continues to participate, he said yes.

Pop singer Dana, who won Eurovision for Ireland in 1970 with the song “All Kinds of Everything”, said there needs to be a “protected area, the place folks not politicians, not nation or world leaders, the place unusual folks can come collectively and discover a protected area”.

“And when we’ve got no phrases, music can converse,” she told the programme.

“It [Eurovision] wasn’t arrange as only a singing competitors, it was arrange after a time of nice battle and conflict and atrocities to offer an area the place folks may come collectively.

“It was really set up to bring different nations together to rise above what was happening on political levels. It isn’t just a song contest.”

Next 12 months’s contest will likely be held in May in Vienna.

Slovenia’s nationwide broadcaster, RTVSLO, has additionally stated it would withdraw from the competitors if Israel participates.

Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has stated that his nation may additionally not participate ought to Israel take part.

Stefán Eiríksson from Iceland’s nationwide broadcaster RÚV stated its involvement within the 2026 contest was “subject to the outcome of the ongoing consultation process within the EBU, due to the participation of the Israeli state broadcaster KAN in the competition”.

Mr Eiríksson added that RÚV “reserve the right to withdraw from participation in it if the EBU does not respond satisfactorily”.

In a press release on Thursday, RTÉ stated: “It is RTÉ’s position that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, if the participation of Israel goes ahead, and the final decision regarding Ireland’s participation will be made once the EBU’s decision is made”.

It added: “RTÉ is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.”

Ireland has gained the competition seven instances in whole, most just lately in 1996.

Martin Green CBE, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, stated the EBU “understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East”.

He added: “We are still consulting with all EBU members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest.

“Broadcasters have till mid-December to substantiate in the event that they want to participate in subsequent 12 months’s occasion in Vienna. It is as much as every member to determine in the event that they wish to participate within the contest and we’d respect any choice broadcasters make.”

Earlier this 12 months, greater than 70 former Eurovision contestants signed a letter calling on the organisers to ban Israel from the 2025 competitors.