Belgian artists denounce national broadcaster’s decision to participate in Eurovision 2026

Controversy around Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest continues to intensify following confirmation that Israel will be allowed to compete in next year’s edition.

Now, 170 Belgian artists and cultural workers have signed a petition denouncing the national broadcaster RTBF’s decision to participate in Eurovision 2026, warning that the competition risks becoming a platform for normalizing violations of international law.

Unlike the national broadcasters of Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia, RTBF have decided to continue participating in the contest.

“In our view, this constitutes a serious breach of the ethical and moral obligations of public broadcasters,” states the petition, as reported by French-language Belgian daily La Libre.

The signatories argue that the decision to allow Israel to compete clashes with the European Broadcasting Union’s swift exclusion of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, highlighting what they describe as a troubling double standard.

The signatories also accuse Israel of using cultural events for political ends (“art-washing”), writing that "for years, the Israeli government has used major artistic and cultural events for propaganda purposes in order to divert attention from its regime of occupation, colonisation and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

They add: “Participating in Eurovision allows Israel to maintain the illusion that it is a modern and exemplary Western democracy, and thus to more easily conceal its criminal actions.”

The letter called on RTBF "to honor its public service mission” by cancelling its participation in the 2026 edition of Eurovision.

Eurovision director Martin Green has responded to the backlash and boycott by saying that “in a challenging world we can indeed by United by Music.”

This has not stopped critics from highlighting the EBU’s hypocrisy, considering the contest prides itself on maintaining political neutrality but still banned Russia in 2022, just days after the invasion of Ukraine.

Last year’s Eurovision winner Nemo has announced they were returning their winner’s trophy, a move followed by 1994’s Eurovision winner, Charlie McGettigan.

We reported last week that Austrian public broadcaster ORF, host of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, confirmed it will not prohibit the Palestinian flag in the audience nor censor any booing directed at Israel's performance.

"We will allow all official flags that exist in the world, if they comply with the law and are in a certain form - size, security risks, etc,” said the show's executive producer, Michael Kroen. " We will not sugarcoat anything or avoid showing what is happening, because our task is to show things as they are."