Tonight marks another chapter in the colourful history of the Eurovision Song Contest.
As the organisers in host city Vienna are counting down to the 70th anniversary production of the song contest, due to be held next May, tonight the competition is in disarray.
This evening, four broadcasters from the EBU confirmed their withdrawal from the show, with the Netherlands Avrotros first out of the traps, quickly followed with statements from Slovenia RTVSLO, the Spanish broadcaster RTVE, and RTÉ for Ireland.
So, what happened to bring this TV pop culture phenomenon into a situation where four national broadcasters are boycotting the contest due to Israel's ongoing participation?
For the past two years, the impact of the war in Gaza led to passionate and vocal protests on the streets outside the arenas of the two host cities, Malmo in Sweden in 2024 and Basel earlier this year.
While inside the competition arenas the EBU was sticking to its message that the show is apolitical, the voices of the protesters outside the competition hall were seeping inside the halls, and a showdown was inevitable.
In July, at the summer General Assembly meeting, broadcasters, beginning with RTÉ stated that they would withdraw from the competition if Israel continued to be involved.
Then over the following months there was a flurry of activity from the EBU, and a vote on Israel's participation was proposed for November.
It was subsequently cancelled after the ceasefire came into effect.
The EBU then set about unveiling a series of proposals to overhaul voting systems in an effort to reassure broadcasters that it had heard their concerns and was responding to them.
Those proposals were lined up for discussion at the EBU's bi-annual assembly. Today, as the EBU members gathered to discuss those proposals, Eurovision commentators had their eyes on EBU HQ in Geneva. However, as journalists were not in the room, and the event was not streamed, people were relying on snippets of information to figure out what was going on.
There was a vote held on those proposed changes that had been outlined by the EBU a few weeks ago.
The proposals included extending the juries from five members to seven, reintroducing juries at semi-final stages, reducing the maximum number of votes from the public from 20 to 10, and most importantly a commitment to further strengthen monitoring of the voting systems.
This evening, those new rules were overwhelmingly endorsed by the members.
Then, the EBU quickly published a statement confirming the "backing of a set of targeted changes to the Eurovision Song Contest rules" and outlined how all EBU members who wish to participate and agree to "comply with the new rules are eligible to take part".
This meant that the path was now clear for Israel, if it agrees to the new rules, to appear in Vienna next May.
The reaction from broadcasters was swift, with the Netherlands broadcaster Avrotros first out to confirm that it had decided not to participate in Eurovision 2026, following a "careful and extensive deliberation process" after consulting with a range of "stakeholders from the Israeli ambassador, to Amnesty International and the EBU to other European public broadcasters" among others.
Then within minutes, there were statements from the Spanish broadcaster, RTVE, and RTÉ announcing that they would not participate.
The Spanish decision is particularly significant as it is one of the "big 5" countries along with France, Germany, Italy and the UK. The "big 5" make the largest financial contributions to the EBU and qualify automatically for the Eurovision grand final.
The RTÉ statement outlined that the broadcaster's position remains unchanged, with RTÉ feeling that "Ireland's participation remains unconscionable".
Slovenia's broadcaster RTVSLO, which was the first to threaten a boycott this summer, said that its participation would be in conflict with "its values of peace, equality and respect".
As the 68 members of the EBU continue to assess the situation tonight, Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the vote's result, saying that his country "deserves to be represented on every stage around the world".
Doubtlessly, the Eurovision has a special place in the hearts of many in Ireland, and the reality that there will not be an Irish act heading to Vienna is sinking in tonight for fans.
All eyes are now on the other EBU members for their decisions, as the organisation stated that the full list of participants for the 70th anniversary edition will be announced before Christmas.
