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Eurovision does not usually make headlines in the U.S., but earlier this month it did.

On December 4, 2025, the Eurovision General Assembly convened to determine the new rules for the 2026 competition and, crucially, whether or not Israel would be permitted to participate.

Israel is not new to the contest; rather, they have been participating since 1973. You probably find this curious because Israel is not in Europe, but neither is Australia, and they have been participating for years. For the purposes of Eurovision, Europe is less a geographical designation and more a vibe.

Whether or not Israel fits the vibe has been the subject of debate and outrage. Though Israel has been participating for decades, fans, performers, and broadcasters have called Israel's participation into question at a high pitch and volume starting in 2024 due to the Israel-Hamas War.

The 2024 and 2025 contests were tense and fraught, and it all came to a head at the December 4 vote. Prior to the vote, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Netherlands, and Slovenia announced their intention to withdraw from the competition were Israel to remain.

And, well, can you guess what happened? I bet you can…

The vote determined that Israel would remain in the competition, and just as they had promised, five countries withdrew.

The deadline has now passed for countries to register or withdraw, so we have the final lineup. There are 35 countries participating in the 2026 contest, which is the smallest group since 2003.

All of this nerdy stuff about the number of countries participating and how this compares to previous years did not make any U.S. headlines that I saw, but the five countries withdrawing did. This surprised me. I thought the U.S. didn’t care about Eurovision!

As a Eurovision fan, I expected the day of the vote to be a big day of news and emotions. I knew the decision would impact the tone and direction of the 2026 Eurovision season. But I didn’t expect to hear about it the following day on my American morning news podcast.

I listen to Start Here with Brad Mielke, who is the best morning news podcast host. I say this with full confidence, without having listened to any of his peers other than Michael Barbaro. I don’t need to. I know Brad Mielke is the best.

On the half-hour daily podcast he hosts, he presents the three main stories of the day. And on December 5, the Eurovision boycotts over Israel made the cut. Out of all the horrific and consequential things happening in the world, the fact that five countries were boycotting Eurovision over Israel made the cut.

I was still dealing with the emotional fallout from the December 4 vote, so to me, this was salt in the wound. I didn’t want to hear my close and personal friend Brad Mielke talk about this. But I was struck by its inclusion in the podcast.

Eurovision matters in a way it didn’t before, at least not that I can remember in my lifetime. This is because of politics, or geopolitics if you want to get fancy and put a fun prefix on it.

I have a lot of feelings about all of this, that perhaps I will share at a later time, but I’m in the mood to wear my detached observer hat. While I have this hat on, I think Eurovision is interesting. It is rich. It is a rich text.

For example, let me share a quote with you from the president of the board of Slovenia’s public broadcaster. Slovenia is one of the five countries boycotting Eurovision this year.

In her address to the group before the December 4 vote, Natalia Gorščak said, “We are hostages of the political interests of the Israeli government.”

And, wow. What a pointed choice of words.

See what I’m saying?

INTERESTING.

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