Eurovision winner JJ calls for Israel to be banned from competition
This year’s Eurovision winner JJ has called for Israel to be banned from the competition.
The Austrian-Filipino singer (real name Johannes Pietsch) made the comments to Spanish newspaper El País. His remarks follow calls for Israel to be banned from the competition over their involvement in the conflict in Gaza.
The Spanish Prime Minister called for Israel to be barred from Eurovision on Tuesday (May 20), and several countries have demanded an audit into Israel’s placement this year. Their entry, Yuval Raphael, placed runner-up to JJ; Israel controversially won the most public votes this year despite being predicted to have a three per cent chance of winning the competition.
Speaking to El País, JJ called for Eurovision to make “changes to the voting system”, arguing that “there should be greater transparency regarding the televoting. This year, everything was very strange about it”.
“It’s very disappointing to see Israel still participating in the competition,” he added. “I would like Eurovision to be held in Vienna next year, without Israel. But the ball is in the EBU’s court. We, the artists, can only speak out on the matter.”
In a previous comment to NME, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest Martin Green CBE said: “The EBU is an association of public service broadcasters, not governments. 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.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cited Russia’s ban from Eurovision as the precedent for barring Israel from the competition. The country was not allowed to compete in the song contest following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Eurovision scholar Dean Vuletic told NME last year that the EBU “simply doesn’t have the political power to ban Israel”, explaining: “There are no international sanctions against Israel. This is why the EBU does not have any mandate to act – nor do its members, the public service broadcasting organizations. They don’t set the foreign policies of their countries, they follow the foreign policies of their governments. So they also don’t have a mandate to boycott the contest because of Israel’s participation.”
Still, there have been multiple protests against Israel’s involvement in the competition this year. Pro-Palestinian protests interrupted Raphael’s dress rehearsals, whilst a Eurovision crew member was hit with paint after two protesters tried to disrupt Raphael’s grand final performance.
In other news, the United Kingdom entry Remember Monday have shared an emotional statement after their disappointing Eurovision score.
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Alex Rigotti
NME
