More countries call for voting audit into Israel’s controversial Eurovision results

More countries have called for a voting audit after Israel controversially came second in Eurovision 2025.

The Grand Final of this year’s song contest took place in Basel, Switzerland last Saturday (May 17) where Austria’s entry JJ was crowned the winner, having earned 436 points overall.

• READ MORE: Inside the raging debate to watch Eurovision 2024: “This feels bigger than the contest”

Israel placed second with the country’s entry, Yuval Raphael, achieving the highest number of public votes (297), in addition to 60 points from the jury (357 in total) for her performance of ‘New Day Will Rise’.

Raphael had qualified for the Eurovision final despite a pro-Palestinian protest occurring during a dress rehearsal. It was subsequently predicted that Israel would come in sixth in the competition, with a three per cent chance of victory.

Since Israel secured the runner-up spot, broadcasters have raised concerns after the public votes awarded high scores to the country.

The UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain were among the nations whose viewers awarded Israel the maximum 12 points, with Ireland and Finland each giving them 10 – despite the country’s ongoing conflict with Palestine.

Following the final, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for Israel to be banned from Eurovision.

“Nobody was up in arms when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began three years ago and [Russia] had to leave international competitions and could not take part, as we have just seen, in Eurovision,” he said.

“Therefore, Israel shouldn’t either because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture.”

Elsewhere, national broadcasters for Spain and Belgium complained to the competition’s organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). They demanded an investigation into the televoting system – which lets fans at home vote up to 20 times via phone, text or app.

Now, Ireland has become the latest country to ask for a Eurovision voting audit. Its public broadcaster, RTÉ, confirmed yesterday evening (May 20) that it had requested a “breakdown in voting numbers” from the EBU and its voting partner, Once.

Dutch public broadcasters Avrotros and NPO issued a statement too, claiming that Eurovision was “increasingly influenced by societal and geopolitical tensions”. It said Israel’s involvement “raises the question of whether Eurovision still truly functions as an apolitical, unifying, and cultural event”.

Martin Green CBE, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, has responded in a statement provided to NME.

“The EBU is an association of public service broadcasters, not governments,” he said. “We remain in constant contact with all participating broadcasters of the Eurovision Song Contest, including RTVE in Spain, and take their concerns seriously.

“Now that the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 has concluded, we will have a broad discussion with all participating broadcasters, to reflect and obtain feedback on all aspects of this year’s event as part of our planning process for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest next year.”

RTÉ had previously asked Eurovision for a discussion over Israel’s involvement. Additionally, Slovenia’s RTV SLO network urged for Israel to be banned, and Iceland’s foreign minister called it “strange” that the country could still be a part of the contest.

There had also been calls to have Israel and national broadcaster KAN banned from the 2025 song contest, including from over 70 former Eurovision contestants. The signees of an open letter argued that the inclusion of Israel in the 2024 contest led to it being “the most politicised, chaotic and unpleasant in the competition’s history”.

Last year saw Israel come in fifth place at Eurovision, having been awarded the second-highest number of points from the public vote.

Six people holding “oversized” Palestinian flags disrupted Raphael’s performance during a preview show last week, and Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR said that the audience members were quickly ejected from the arena. The rules stipulate that all flags are allowed, although there is a limit to the size.

It was subsequently reported that a Eurovision crew member had been hit with paint during another protest involving two people.

“At the end of the Israeli performance, a man and a woman tried to get over a barrier onto the stage. They were stopped. One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit,” said the SRG SSR in a statement.

“The crew member is fine and nobody was injured. The man and the woman were taken out of the venue and handed over to the police.”

Raphael survived the October 7 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen at the Nova music festival, which killed hundreds of people. The singer hid under a pile of dead bodies for eight hours until she was rescued.

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