Austria's winner of Eurovision 2025 has said he hopes Israel will be excluded from next year's contest, which will be held in Vienna.
JJ, whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, told Spanish newspaper El Pais that it is "disappointing" that Israel continues to participate in the European song contest.
"I would like Eurovision to be held next year in Vienna and without Israel. But the 'ball' is in the hands of the EBU. We, the artists, can only raise our voices on this issue," said the 24-year-old singer.
JJ won first prize in the competition with his pop-operatic ballad "Wasted Love." In the final round of voting, he faced singer Yuval Raphael from Israel, who came in second with a large number of public votes.
Israel's participation in the contest has come under repeated criticism in recent months due to its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has also weighed in on the debate, calling for Israel's exclusion on the grounds that Russia was excluded from the contest due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"Therefore, Israel should not participate either, because what we cannot allow is the doubling of standards in culture," Sánchez said during a press conference in Madrid.
Several countries have called for an audit of the voting system, saying they want to make sure there was no outside influence from the countries that participated. Even the winner of Austria agreed that there should be "more transparency on the issue of televoting."
"This year everything was very strange," the singer said. He also supported comments by last year's winner, Nemo from Switzerland, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be excluded.
Yuval Raphael from Israel performed the song "New Day Will Rise" during the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, on 17 May 2025.
Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival in 2023, has yet to comment on JJ's statements.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, has said the competition should be politically neutral. They have not responded to the numerous calls for Israel to be excluded from the contest.
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Source: Euronews
