Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with
active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the
Eurovision network and broadcasting the contest live nationwide. The EBU issues an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. On 15 December 2025, the EBU announced that broadcasters from 35 countries would participate in the 2026 contest. returns after a three-year absence, returns after a two-year absence, and returns after a one-year absence. On the other hand, , , the , , and , all of which participated in 2025, have opted not to take part in protest at the inclusion of in the context of the
Gaza war, as well as the Israeli government's attempts to influence the results in the previous two editions. This marks the largest boycott in the contest's history since .
Aliona Moon, who previously represented and provided backing vocals for
Pasha Parfeni in , will also provide backing vocals for Satoshi; and Belgium's
Essyla previously represented the country in
Eurovision Choir 2019 as part of the choir Almakalia.
Boycotts due to Israeli participation The
Gaza war has brought Israel's participation in the contest into controversy, with calls for the country to be excluded and demonstrations against its participation at the and 2025 editions. Israel's 2024 entry "
Hurricane" was also controversial, as an earlier version titled "October Rain" was seen as referencing the
7 October attacks on Israel, a breach of political neutrality rules, which led to it only being accepted by the EBU after a rewrite. Israeli government officials ran advertising campaigns to boost public votes and encourage support for their country's entries in 2024 and 2025, which was cited as one of the factors leading to Israel finishing in fifth place in 2024 and second in 2025, in both cases placing within the top two of the public vote. The existence of such campaigns for the 2024 entry was confirmed by the
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and similar campaigns for the 2025 entry were detailed by Eurovision News Spotlight, a fact-checking and
open-source intelligence initiative by the EBU. The 2025 set of advertisements, published by the
Israel Government Advertising Agency, received over 68 million total impressions. Several participating broadcasters called for a rework of the televoting system and an independent audit of individual countries' televoting results following the 2025 final. Ahead of the 2026 contest, broadcasters from , The contest's reference group extended its confirmation deadline, before which broadcasters are able to withdraw applications for the 2026 contest without incurring a financial penalty, from 13 October to mid-December to allow for a wide-ranging consultation with broadcasters on Israeli participation, which was set to be determined at the EBU's general assembly on 4 and 5 December. A special general assembly session was planned to be held in early November to discuss and vote on Israel's representation in the contest, but it was cancelled following the implementation of
a ceasefire deal and peace plan aimed at ending the war. The 4 December assembly ultimately voted in favour of adopting
a series of amendments to the voting system, bypassing a proposed separate vote on Israel's participation and allowing the country to compete. As a result, broadcasters from the four aforementioned countries announced they will go ahead with their boycott, followed by on 10 December, with the Irish, Slovenian and Spanish broadcasters also stating they would not broadcast the contest. This would mark the first time that the event would not be broadcast in Ireland since 1963, in Slovenia since 1985 and in Spain since 1961. The absence of Spain would also mark the first time that the "
Big Five" is incomplete since its expansion with in . The boycott was described by several media outlets as "the biggest crisis in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest". Protesting the decision to permit Israel,
Nemo, who won for , returned their trophy to the EBU.
Charlie McGettigan, who won for alongside
Paul Harrington, later stated that he would return their trophy as well. The following countries' broadcasters confirmed they would boycott in 2026: • Although
RÚV initially announced that it would select its entry for 2026 through its traditional national final , on 8 September 2025, Stefán Jón Hafstein, chairman of RÚV's board of directors, stated that the broadcaster's participation is "uncertain" and would be dependent on whether Israel is allowed to compete. On 26 November, RÚV's board voted to recommend Israel be excluded, and on 10 December, six days after the assembly vote, it announced its boycott of the event, but will still broadcast the shows. On 4 December, following the assembly vote, RTÉ announced its boycott of the event by neither competing in nor broadcasting it; • Despite initially announcing that it would internally select its entry for 2026, on 12 September 2025,
AVROTROS stated: "We can no longer justify Israel's participation with the continued and serious human suffering in Gaza", and cited the Israeli government campaign as interference in the previous edition's outcome. The broadcaster later stated that it would not change its position for the contest in 2026 even if a ceasefire is reached or the broader
Israeli–Palestinian conflict develops otherwise, and would reassess its participation "in subsequent years" dependent on the circumstances at that moment. On 4 December, following the assembly vote, AVROTROS announced its boycott of the event, The broadcaster later stated its "clear position", on 12 September and again on 27 November, that it would not participate if Israel is allowed to compete. On 4 December, following the assembly vote, RTVSLO announced its boycott of the event by neither competing in nor broadcasting it. • In May 2025,
José Pablo López, chairman of
RTVE, initially announced that the broadcaster would select its entry through , the national final format in use since 2022. On 9 September, it was reported that a decision on participation would be made in December, following the EBU general assembly, and that would be organised regardless of the decision taken. On 16 September, RTVE's board of directors passed a proposal for the broadcaster not to participate in nor air the contest if Israel participates. On 9 October, RTVE's head of communications stated that the broadcaster's position remained unchanged in light of the recently proposed peace plan; López reaffirmed this in front of the Joint Parliamentary Control Committee of the
Congress of Deputies and the
Senate on 27 November. On 4 December, following the assembly vote, RTVE announced its boycott of the event by neither competing in nor broadcasting it, with regularly scheduled programming taking the place of all three shows.
Other countries The EBU member broadcasters in , , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Associate member broadcasters in Canada and Kazakhstan expressed interest in debuting in the contest, however, the EBU confirmed that the two would not do so in 2026. == Production and format ==