Iceland joins countries boycotting Eurovision over Israel's involvement

Iceland has become the fifth nation to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest over the organisers' decision to allow Israel to compete.

The island nation joins Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands in boycotting the popular music competition after Israel's participation was confirmed last week, the BBC reports.

The director-general of Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV, Stefan Eiriksson, confirmed the move.

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"There is no peace or joy connected to this contest as things stand now. On that basis, first and foremost, we are stepping back while the situation is as it is," he said.

RÚV said Israel's involvement had "created disunity among both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the general public".

The RUV board agreed the decision on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), hours before the deadline for nations to confirm whether they will take part in the feel-good competition.

Last week the general assembly of the EBU, a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that runs Eurovision, met to discuss concerns about Israel's participation.

Members voted to adopt tougher contest voting rules in response to allegations that Israel manipulated the vote in favour of its competitor, but took no action to exclude any broadcaster from the competition.

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Next May's contest scheduled to be held in Vienna has been planned as a celebratory 70th anniversary edition.

The contest pits acts from dozens of nations, including Australia, against one another for the continent's musical crown. It strives to put pop before politics, but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events.

Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Gaza has been its biggest challenge, with pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Israel outside the last two Eurovision contests in Basel, Switzerland, in May and Malmo, Sweden, in 2024.

- With AP

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