Slovenian Broadcaster To Celebrate Palestinian Filmmakers In Place Of Airing Eurovision

Slovenia’s national broadcaster has announced plans to honour Palestinian artists rather than airing this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Last year, Slovenia was one of five  countries to announce it was withdrawing from Eurovision due to the decision to invite Israel back to the competition, despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“As a public service broadcaster, RTV Slovenia is committed to upholding ethical principles and expects that equal rules and standards apply to all EBU members and all participating countries,” the Slovenian broadcaster said at the time.

On Thursday, RTVSLO’s director told AP: “We will not be broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest. We will be airing the film series Voices of Palestine, featuring Palestinian documentaries and feature films.”

After the news that Israel would be competing at Eurovision 2026 – amid widespread calls for them to be banned, similar to how Russia was expelled from the contest in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine – The Netherlands became the first country to withdraw in solidarity with Palestine, followed by Spain, Ireland and Slovenia. Iceland then did the same a week later.

While Ireland and Spain have already indicated that they will not be airing Eurovision 2026 on their respective national broadcasters, The Netherlands and Iceland will still show it, despite not taking part.

Eurovision’s reigning champion JJ said shortly after his victory for Austria in May 2025 that he supports calls for Israel to be banned from competing, echoing comments made weeks earlier by his predecessor, Switzerland’s Nemo, during an interview with HuffPost UK.

In the run-up to last year’s live final, a host of musicians and performers associated with Eurovision – including multiple former winners – shared an open letter calling for Israel to be removed from the contest.

An additional open letter was shared by the campaign group No Music For Genocide earlier this week, co-signed by numerous prolific musicians who are calling for a boycott of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.