Björk appealed to her Iceland Christmas that boycott the Eurovision festivalfollowing the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to allow Israel to participate in the next edition of the competition.
The Icelandic artist shared, on social media, a message from singer Páll Óskar, who represented Iceland in 1997. “I agree with every word. I hope RÚV [a estação pública islandesa] have courage,” he wrote.
Following the EBU’s decision, four countries have now guaranteed that they will not be present at the 2026 edition of Eurovision: the Netherlands, Spain, the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia. Iceland, through RÚV, announced that it will take a position in relation to a possible boycott this Wednesday, December 10th.
For its part, RTP announced that Portugal will be represented in the contest, which led to criticism from its workers and from Salvador Sobral, winner of Eurovision in 2017. “RTP, the State channel, decided to participate in Eurovision even with the participation of Israel. That expression giving a nail and another horseshoe has never made as much sense as last night. National television broadcasts a concert in Gaza and at the same time is afraid of doing the right thing”, said the musician.
Meanwhile, a petition was created calling for Portugal’s boycott of Eurovision, which already has more than 13 thousand signatures. For the authors of the petition, RTP’s stance “is unacceptable in view of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and military offensive in the Gaza Strip, and in view of the vote manipulation scandals that marred the 2025 edition in Basel, proving the inability of the organization (EBU/UER) to stop the politicization of the event”.
The 2026 edition of the Eurovision festival is scheduled for May 12th, 14th and 16th in Vienna, Austria.