Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
New York Times investigation says Israel ran a “well-organised campaign” to shape Eurovision votes
A New York Times report says Israel spent at least $1 million on Eurovision marketing amid renewed scrutiny over voting and participation.
A New York Times investigation says Israel’s government carried out a “well-organised campaign” to use Eurovision as a “soft power” tool, and spent at least $1 million on marketing tied to the contest.
The report says the effort dates back to 2018 and was aimed at “burnish[ing] the country’s flagging reputation and rally[ing] international support.” It also says some of the money came from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hasbara office, which deals with Israel’s public image. In 2024 alone, the paper reports, $800,000 was allocated for “vote promotion” around Eurovision.
The claims land inside a contest that has already spent months under pressure over voting, Israel’s participation, and the limits of social media campaigning. Eurovision rules bar governments from interfering with votes. Martin Green, the contest’s director, has said before that Israel’s actions were excessive, but did not cause the country’s second-place finishes in 2024, with Eden Golan, or in 2025, with Yuval Raphael.
The New York Times also reports there is no evidence Israel used bots or other covert methods to change the overall result, even though its contestants reportedly won popular votes in countries where Israel is “deeply unpopular.”
Last year, Netanyahu posted an image on social media urging people to vote 20 times, which was the maximum allowed at the time, for Raphael. Multiple pro-Israel groups across Europe reportedly shared the same image.
Doron Medalie, a former Eurovision songwriter for Israel, defended the approach and told the outlet: “Everybody is jealous and triggered because Israel is achieving great results”.
After the 2025 contest, some broadcasters asked to see the voting data and others pushed for an external investigation. Green said the governing body would review the vote, but broadcasters were never given a “full vote analysis.”
Pressure increased again last July, when Spain called for a debate over Israel’s participation during a broadcaster meeting in London and pushed for changes to the voting system. Czech broadcasting veteran Petr Dvorak was later brought in to interview EBU members about Israel’s role. He concluded that while views differed, some “felt that Israel as a state is sometimes using this event as some sort of promotional tool”.
Green later said Israel’s actions had not affected the 2025 result, though he did not offer a detailed look at the data. He also warned broadcasters about using social media to drive votes, which the New York Times summary framed as an acknowledgement that online campaigns can matter, just not in Israel’s case.
Following a secret ballot, broadcasters agreed to change the rules for 2026. The maximum number of votes per viewer was cut from 20 to 10. Even so, the New York Times says a team behind Israel’s 2026 entrant, Noam Bettan, has already shared social media posts urging people to vote for him 10 times.
Green said in a statement that “employing a direct call to action to vote 10 times for one artist or song is also not in line with our rules, nor the spirit of the competition,” adding that campaigns of that kind cannot change the final result.
Israel is due to compete in the 2026 contest, which begins Tuesday, May 12, and runs through the week. In December, Green published an open letter to fans addressing the decision to include Israel this year. He said “many of you will be feeling strong emotions at this time,” especially around “events in the Middle East and how those realities connect to the Eurovision Song Contest.” He also warned against demands that the EBU take a fixed position on geopolitics, saying, “The only way the Eurovision Song Contest can continue to bring people together is by ensuring we are guided by our rules first and foremost”.
Calls to exclude Israel have also come from No Music For Genocide, which released an open letter on April 21 signed by more than 1,100 cultural workers and artists. The letter urged fans to boycott this year’s Eurovision unless Israel is banned.
Among the signatories are Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Paloma Faith, Paul Weller, Kneecap, Hot Chip, Of Monsters and Men, IDLES, Primal Scream, Sigur Rós, Young Fathers, Mogwai, Black Country New Road, Erika de Casier, Nadine Shah, Dry Cleaning, Ólafur Arnalds, David Holmes, Nemahsis, Macklemore, Roger Waters, Peter Gabriel, Vacations, Smerz, several former Eurovision finalists, and others.
