The 70th Eurovision Song Contest has opened in Vienna, Austria, with a turquoise carpet parade drawing thousands of fans to the city's neo-Gothic concert hall on Sunday evening. Artists from 35 competing nations greeted supporters, posed for photographs, and showcased dance moves ahead of the contest's first semi-final on Tuesday. The grand final is scheduled for Saturday. Notable by their absence are five countries — Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia, and Iceland — which have withdrawn in protest over Israel's continued participation in the competition.
The boycotting nations, the lowest number of Eurovision participants in more than two decades, argue that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the alliance of public broadcasters that organises the contest, is applying double standards. Russia was excluded from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine, with the EBU arguing that Russian state broadcaster could no longer operate independently of the Kremlin. The EBU maintains that Israel's public broadcaster, KAN, retains sufficient editorial independence, and that there is no broad consensus among member organisations to justify exclusion. Critics dispute this assessment, pointing to more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths since the start of the Gaza war and accusing KAN of heavily one-sided war coverage that largely ignores Palestinian civilian suffering. Over 70 former Eurovision contestants previously called on the EBU to exclude both Israel and KAN, alleging the broadcaster normalises Israeli military conduct. KAN and the Israeli government have rejected these characterisations.
Security in Vienna is operating at near-airport levels, with all 15,000 event staff — from technicians to bar workers — having been vetted by police. The security chief of organising broadcaster ORF described the situation as markedly more complex than the previous Vienna edition in 2015, citing international tensions, terrorism threats, and the risk of cyberattacks. The measures partly reflect lessons drawn from the 2024 cancellation of Taylor Swift's Vienna stadium concerts following a foiled terror plot, in which one suspect had been employed at the venue. Austrian Chancellor Stocker previously described any potential exclusion of Israel as a