Austrian Eurovision broadcaster says won’t ban Palestine flag or edit out anti-Israel boos

Austrian broadcaster, ORF, which will host Eurovision 2026, has said it will not ban Palestinian flags from the event or edit out the audience’s boos against Israel. The move appears to be an attempt to prevent more nations boycotting the event next May after Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands all announced their refusal to take part if genocidal Israel is allowed to compete.

Eurovision organisers have claimed that they want to keep the contest apolitical. That claim is clearly a nonsense when Russia was quickly banned after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The 2025 contest was criticised for dubbing over widespread audience booing against Israel with cheering.

Such a move was undoubtedly part of a propaganda attempt to create a false impression of public support for the occupation – one that went as far as alleged intensive and expensive efforts by the Israeli government to rig the public vote, leading to changes in voting rules for future contests.

Eurovision 2026, the 70th contest since its founding, will have the fewest contestants since 2023. If it did the right thing and removed one, it would immediately gain back five more and prevent boycotts far more certainly than broadcasters having to promise not to censor booing or Palestine flags.

Featured image via the Canary