BBC director general Tim Davie told a parliamentary committee that the corporation is "aware of the concerns" about Israel’s proposed participation in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest but said the contest has "never been about politics" and should remain a celebration of music and culture.
Davie told the public accounts committee on Monday that the BBC would "work with" the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as the union consults members and considers whether to allow Israel to compete in the 2025 contest. He said it was "really important... that we try to preserve" the celebratory element of the event while the EBU completes its decision-making process.
The comments come as broadcasters in Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain have threatened to boycott if Israel is permitted to take part, citing Israel’s actions in Gaza. Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has publicly said Israel should not participate, echoing calls from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez earlier this year. More than 70 former Eurovision contestants also signed a letter this year calling on organisers to bar Israel from the 2025 competition.
Next summer’s contest will be held in Vienna after Austrian singer JJ won the most recent edition, with organisers and broadcasters now debating membership rules and whether participation would bring the event into disrepute. Davie said the BBC was "supportive of the European Broadcast Union's work" and would let the EBU "get on with it," adding that the union was "going around discussing with members" to determine an outcome.
The debate over Israel’s participation has occurred against a backdrop of intense international scrutiny of the conflict in Gaza. The UN-backed food security monitor IPC has said famine is taking place in parts of Gaza, a claim that has been linked by some observers to restrictions on aid entering the enclave. Israel controls all crossings into the Gaza Strip and, as the occupying power, bears obligations under international law regarding civilian protection, according to legal experts and humanitarian agencies. Israeli officials have rejected claims that their actions constitute genocide and have attributed hunger and shortages in Gaza to Hamas and to logistical challenges faced by aid groups. The Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas, has issued casualty figures that differ from other sources; it has reported tens of thousands of deaths since the conflict escalated after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which Israeli authorities say killed about 1,200 people and saw around 251 taken hostage.
Those concerns echo precedent in which the EBU has previously weighed political implications of participation. In 2022, the EBU banned Russia from competing after its invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia’s inclusion could bring the competition into disrepute and noting it had consulted widely among its membership before making that decision. Ukraine went on to win that year’s contest.
Eurovision has a long history of political undercurrents despite rules intended to keep the contest non-political. Artists and delegations have used the platform to convey political or human-rights messages: in 2016 Ukraine won with the song "1944," addressing the deportation of Crimean Tatars; in 2019 Iceland was fined for flying a Palestinian flag during the contest; and in 2023 Switzerland sent an anti-war song titled "Watergun."
The EBU has not announced a timetable for resolving the current dispute. Broadcasters threatening a boycott have said they would withdraw if Israel is invited to compete; the BBC has signalled it will follow the EBU’s lead while trying to preserve the contest’s cultural focus. The issue is likely to remain under close scrutiny as the union continues consultations and as national broadcasters and governments weigh their positions.