The Austrian public broadcaster ORF, host of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, has confirmed it will not prohibit the Palestinian flag from the audience nor will it censor any booing directed at Israel’s performance.
This decision, announced on Tuesday by organisers, marks a departure from previous events where such expressions were reportedly suppressed.
The 70th edition of the popular music contest, scheduled for May, faces significant diplomatic tension, with only 35 entries – the smallest number of participants since 2003.
This reduction follows the withdrawal of five national broadcasters, including those from Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands, who are boycotting the show in protest at Israel’s involvement.
These boycotting nations argue that participation would be “unconscionable” given the civilian casualties in Gaza, stemming from Israel’s response to the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.
Addressing the controversy, the show’s executive producer, Michael Kroen, stated at an ORF-organised news conference: “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.”
He further emphasised the broadcaster’s commitment to transparency, adding: ” … we will not sugarcoat anything or avoid showing what is happening, because our task is to show things as they are.”
Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz, ORF’s director of programming, confirmed that the sound of any booing from the crowd would not be drowned out, a practice observed during Israel’s performance in this year’s contest.
“We won’t play artificial applause over it at any point,” she said.
Israel’s 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael, was at the Nova music festival that was a target of the Hamas-led attack. The CEO of Israeli broadcaster KAN had likened the efforts to exclude Israel in 2026 to a form of “cultural boycott”.
ORF and the Austrian government were among the biggest supporters of Israel participating over the objections of countries including Iceland and Slovenia, which will also boycott the next contest in protest. ORF Director General Roland Weissmann visited Israel in November to show his support.
Nemo, the non-binary Swiss singer who won the 2024 contest with “The Code”, announced they would return their winner’s trophy in protest of Israel’s participation.
This year’s show drew around 166 million viewers, according to the European Broadcasting Union, more than the roughly 128 million who Nielsen estimates watched the Super Bowl.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.