Israel once again challenges the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) by breaking one of the rules imposed by the Eurovision organization, just days before the 70th edition of the contest begins. In recent hours, promotional videos have started circulating on social media in which the Israeli representative, Noam Bettan, explicitly asks for votes for his country in multiple languages, including Spanish.
Specifically, the singer requests that the 10 votes per device allowed by the contest rules be exclusively for his song, Michelle, which competes this Thursday, May 12, in the first semifinal of the festival, held in Vienna.
The contest’s executive director, Martin Green, confirmed to the Norwegian channel TV2 this Saturday that he has sent a warning to Israel, just days before the competition begins. “We learned that the artist representing KAN (Israel’s public broadcaster) had published and distributed videos instructing people to vote 10 times for Israel. Within 20 minutes, we contacted the Israeli delegation and asked them to immediately stop distributing the videos and remove them from all platforms where they had been posted,” Green explained. “We will continue to closely monitor Israel’s promotional activities and take action if necessary,” assures the head of Eurovision.
Protests regarding possible manipulation of the televote arose at the end of the previous Eurovision edition. They were led by RTVE, which requested an external audit to clarify why Israel received the maximum score from so many countries in the popular vote. This occurred after an extensive social media campaign carried out by its 2025 representative, Yuval Rafael, who explicitly asked people to vote as many times as possible for his song New Day Will Rise. His entry finished second in Basel, leading the public vote. Only the professional jury vote in the contest final prevented Israel’s victory.
The EBU’s response to these claims from RTVE and other broadcasters was to launch a new regulation approved at its December 2025 General Assembly which, among other measures, prohibited this type of advertising campaigns. It also decided to reinstate the professional jury in the semifinals, so that qualification for the Saturday final does not depend solely on the televote.
At that time, the EBU clarified in a statement that “participating broadcasters and artists are not authorized to actively participate in, facilitate, or contribute to third-party promotional campaigns that may influence the voting outcome, as described in the updated Code of Conduct.”
TV 2 has contacted KAN, which states that “they comply with all EBU rules and maintain constant contact with the organization.” “The incident in question arises from an initiative by the artist and his team, without any illegal funding, and is similar to advertising done by other artists in the contest. In accordance with the EBU’s wishes, the artist has stopped using the videos,” concludes the channel’s spokesperson.
Eurovision 2026 is marked by the voluntary withdrawal of five countries (Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia, and Iceland), which chose not to participate after the organization refused to expel the Israeli delegation for the genocide committed in Gaza, as defined last September by an independent commission appointed by the UN.
This formal warning from the EBU to KAN adds to the multiple times in recent years that the organization has requested Israel to change the lyrics of its songs to remove political content, something that also violates the contest rules.
In recent days, workers of the Portuguese public television (RTP) have called to boycott Eurovision due to Israel’s participation. In an open letter, they insist on their 2025 request: not to tolerate normalization practices that go against fundamental values such as human dignity, human rights, and international law. They also recall that the channel has decided to remain in the contest against the opinion of its employees.
