THE UK should withdraw from Eurovision 2026 if Israel participates, the songwriter behind the UK’s 1960s winning song has said.
Musician and songwriter Phil Coulter said he was “100% behind” the Irish broadcaster, RTE’s decision to withdraw from the contest if Israel is to participate due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
RTE announced on Thursday that it will make a final decision once the Eurovision organiser, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), makes its decision, as it said Ireland’s participation would be “unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza”.
Coulter, has written or co-written several songs for Eurovision, including the UK's winning song "Puppet on a String" in 1967, said people in the UK and Ireland are both “disgusted by what's going on in Gaza”.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, Coulter said: “Musicians, songwriters and performers are human beings with consciences.
“I think the only sensible thing and the only decent thing for RTE to do is to withdraw from the contest if Israel is allowed to perform.”
Coulter added that there is a “double standard” in allowing Israel to participate, whereas Russia was expelled from the competition in 2022 following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“What's the difference between that tragic event and what's happening in Gaza?” Coulter said.
The songwriter also called on the BBC to take a similar position to RTÉ and not participate in next year's Eurovision which will be held in May in Vienna.
“I think it is a question of conscience, and as RTE have made this step - it reflects the feeling of the general public and I'm quite sure that throughout the United Kingdom people are equally disgusted by what's going on in Gaza,” Coulter told the programme.
Asked later to clarify whether he meant the BBC should withdraw if Israel continues to participate, he said yes.
RTE’s decision to withdraw from the contest comes after Slovenia's national broadcaster, RTVSLO, said it would also boycott the competition if Israel participated.
Spain's Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has also said that his country may also not take part should Israel participate.
Urtasun reportedly said that Spain had already formally requested Israel's exclusion and warned that the government would consider "measures… if not expelled".
Stefan Eiriksson from Iceland's national broadcaster RÚV said its involvement in the 2026 contest was “subject to the outcome of the ongoing consultation process within the EBU, due to the participation of the Israeli state broadcaster KAN in the competition”.
Eiriksson added that RÚV “reserves the right to withdraw from participation in it if the EBU does not respond satisfactorily”.
A spokesperson for Eurovision said it was up to each state to decide if it wanted to take part in the contest.
