NYT Investigation: Israel Spent Millions on Promotion at Eurovision 2026. The New York Times reported on Israel's extensive campaign to promote its participants at Eurovision 2026. The investigation mentions millions of dollars, pressure on broadcasters, and new contest rules.
A day before the first Eurovision 2026 semi-final in Europe, a new scandal erupted: The New York Times published an investigation into a large-scale campaign by the Israeli government to promote its performers and influence the voting results. According to the publication, this involves multimillion-dollar spending, coordinated advertising, and pressure on broadcasters, raising questions about the transparency and political neutrality of the contest.
Millions Spent on Promotion
As The New York Times notes, Israeli authorities began using Eurovision as a tool of 'public diplomacy' long before the current controversy surrounding the country's participation. Financial documents show that in recent years alone, at least one million dollars has been spent on promoting Israeli contestants, with part of the funding coming from the 'hasbara' office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2024, according to the Israeli agency The Seventh Eye, advertising expenses related to Eurovision exceeded $800,000, the majority of which was provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Pressure and New Rules
The investigation highlights that the Israeli government pressured European public broadcasters during periods when a boycott of the country was being discussed. In particular, in 2025, when the contest was held in Basel, Israel once again secured second place overall and won the public vote, despite strong anti-Israeli sentiment in several countries, including Spain. Journalists from Finland's Yle discovered that Israeli authorities purchased online ads in various languages, urging people to vote for their candidate up to 20 times. After this, several broadcasters, including Slovenia, demanded transparency over the voting process and threatened to withdraw from the contest.
Organizers' response and consequences
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees Eurovision, officially bans government interference in the voting process. However, according to The New York Times, organizers limited themselves to internal consultations and did not launch a full external investigation. As a result, in December 2025, the rules were changed: now each user can vote no more than 10 times, instead of 20 as before. Nevertheless, this year Israel’s representative Noam Bettan is once again actively promoting on social media, urging people to vote as many times as possible, sparking a new wave of criticism from the contest’s management.
Internal disputes and financial risks
Disputes have erupted within the EBU: five countries — Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia — have declared their readiness to withdraw from the contest if the situation does not change. Organizers calculated that the loss of any party would result in significant financial losses: according to some estimates, the issue concerns more than $600,000 in copyright alone. In September, the EBU acknowledged that it had never faced such acute polarization before and held an emergency vote to amend the rules, but not to exclude Israel. As a result, the country remained in the contest, and the new voting restrictions came into force this year.
In the context of other high-profile events related to international competitions, it is worth noting that disputes over selection and participation of countries are not uncommon — as was the case, for example, with the lineup of the Argentina team for the 2026 World Cup, which was discussed in detail in the article on russpain.com.
