Why Malta should boycott the Eurovision

Palestinians in Gaza continue to face untold hardship despite the conflict dropping down the news ladder ever since a ceasefire agreement was reached.

Families live in cramped tents with no privacy, on streets bathed in sewage from cesspools overflowing with rainwater. Hunger is still a reality for most. Hundreds of thousands remain displaced from their towns, where whole neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble.

The Israeli guns may have been silenced. The Israeli bombs may have stopped raining down. The Israeli tanks may have stopped rolling. But the suffering of ordinary Palestinians has not stopped—it has just taken a backseat in the international news.

Today’s relative calm does not absolve Israel from the atrocities it committed in Gaza. It does not absolve Israel from responsibility for the thousands of Palestinian children that were killed, maimed and scarred for life. It does not absolve Israel from shouldering responsibility for inflicting untold humiliation on a nation it would rather see wiped out from the region.

What happened in Gaza was not simply an act of self-defence in retaliation for the horrible crimes perpetrated by Hamas militants. The war waged in Gaza may have started for these reasons but it quickly transformed into a systematic campaign to punish a whole nation; humiliate it and rob it of its dignity. The use of hunger as a weapon of war earlier this year was the apex of this genocidal campaign.

It is within this context that Israel should have been banned from participating in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The country should not be allowed to whitewash its sins through a cultural event intended to bring people together.

Of course, Israeli artists are not to blame for the actions of their government. But in circumstances where Israel acted with complete impunity, artists will have to shoulder the consequences of the murderous choices made by the country they represent, especially in a contest that celebrates countries as much as their artists.

Unfortunately, Israel was not banned from the contest after members of the European Broadcasting Union last month, voted against such a move. Consequently, Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Slovenia, and the Netherlands opted to boycott the 2026 Eurovision contest over Israel’s participation.

In its statement confirming Ireland’s withdrawal from the contest, national broadcaster RTÉ said participation would be “unconscionable” given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there. RTÉ also said it remained deeply concerned by the “targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict” and the continued denial of access to international journalists.

Malta, on the other hand, has opted to stay in the competition with Culture Minister Owen Bonnici insisting that “peace is achieved by keeping lines of communication open, and culture contributes greatly to this”. The question is: Should Israel be allowed an international stage to put a sheen on its image?

There is merit in the argument that the principled stand taken by the five countries to boycott the Eurovision has no impact given that Israel will still be present on the stage in Vienna next May.

Nonetheless, there is relevance in boycotting a contest in which the aggressor gets to bask in glory under the guise of culture that “brings people together”, while the suffering party has very limited access to the world stage.

Given Malta’s long-held support for the Palestinian cause, we would have expected the Public Broadcasting Service to at least argue for Israel to be banned from the Eurovision. Unfortunately, we heard nothing of the sort.

Consequently, whether Malta should have withdrawn its participation or not if Israel was not axed by the EBU would have been a separate debate. Arguing for Israel to be banned and boycotting the contest are two separate issues.

But it appears PBS and the culture minister were comfortable remaining non-committal on Israel’s participation and clearly against a boycott. Malta will be participating in the Eurovision with no ifs or buts, which is a disappointment.

We believe Malta should have pressed the point for Israel’s exclusion from the Eurovision and subsequently withdrawn its participation after the EBU vote to retain Israel. It would have been a principled stand against Israel’s abuses in Gaza but more importantly a show of solidarity with the long-suffering Palestinian people.