Slovenia will not compete in Eurovision 2026

Following a vote that allows Israel to compete in Eurovision 2026, Slovenia has withdrawn from the Contest.

In a press released from broadcaster RTV SLO they stated (please note the below is Google translated):

TV Slovenia , together with Spain, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Turkey, Algeria and Iceland, requested a secret vote regarding Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was not held.

Those present at the meeting did not vote specifically on Israel, but did vote on whether the General Assembly should hold Eurovision according to the currently planned scenario (which includes a package of new measures and actions related to the vote), but without a vote on the participation of members. 11 countries voted in favor of deciding on the participation of members, five abstained, and the rest did not want any changes.

"The question was very cleverly posed and probably misled many who wanted to vote on it. [...] Slovenia will definitely not participate. The Spanish, Dutch and Irish will definitely not participate either," Natalija Gorščak , the President of the Board of RTV Slovenia, told TV Slovenija after the meeting.

TV Slovenia Director Ksenija Horvat said: "TV Slovenia was the initiator of the debate at the EBU level about the controversy surrounding Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. We believe that the EBU could have shown a principled and ethical stance here, and we regret that the association in which we participate was not capable of doing so. For more than a year, we have been warning that we cannot stand on the same stage with a representative of a country that caused the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We point out that Gaza is the only territory in the world where the work of foreign journalists is not possible and where people are still dying in unbearable humanitarian and security conditions."

In her address to the members before the decision , Natalija Gorščak reminded, among other things, that the EBU had rejected the participation of the Russian representative in the week after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and now the EBU does not dare reject Israel.

"Our journalists were not and still are not allowed to enter Gaza, where more than 200 journalists were killed. Last year we saw that the Israeli performance was political. Don't forget that we banned a similar performance by a Russian singer in Ukraine. In 2017, we opened Pandora's box in Stockholm when a political song won, and since then we have been fighting against politics at Eurovision," she added. She added that she understood the position of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), because if it withdrew from the competition and allowed Eurovision to become just a song festival, it would find itself under pressure from the Israeli government. "We are all trapped. We are hostages of the political interests of the Israeli government," she said.

Gorščak added that she is not speaking about her personal beliefs, as she represents RTV Slovenia, the Slovenian public and performers from Slovenia in the EBU. "For the third year in a row, the public has demanded that we say no to the participation of any country that attacks another country. We must follow European standards for peace and understanding. Eurovision has been a place for joy and happiness from the very beginning, performers and audiences were united by music, and it should remain that way," she added.

"Our message is: we will not participate in the ESC if Israel is there. On behalf of the 20,000 children who died in Gaza," Gorščak concluded her speech.

Full details on the vote and other broadcasters boycotting.