Four people were thrown out of the first Eurovision Song Contest semi-final, which saw attempts to disrupt Israel’s performance.
As 28-year-old Israeli singer Noam Bettan began his performance of Michelle during the live show, a protester could be heard shouting “Stop, stop the genocide” and “Free, free Palestine”.
Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2026 has caused Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia to pull out of the world’s biggest live televised music event.
Eurovision is run by the European Broadcasting Union, the world’s biggest alliance of public-service media.
In a joint statement, Austrian host broadcaster ORF and the EBU said: “An audience of 10,000 fans in the Wiener Stadthalle at the first semi-final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna greeted every artist enthusiastically.
“ORF is broadcasting a clean audio feed live from audience microphones before and during every performer’s song.
“One audience member, close to a microphone, loudly expressed their views as the Israeli artist began his performance, and during the song, which was heard on the live broadcast. They were later removed by security for continuing to disturb the audience.
“Three other people were also removed from the arena by security for disruptive behaviour.”
Bettan said he was “aware” of what was happening in the audience.
He said: “I heard there was booing and everything, and there was a moment of, like, a wow effect, you know? A little bit of shock.”
This year’s 70th edition of Eurovision is facing its biggest-ever political boycott.
Besides unease at the conduct of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, some broadcasters raised concerns that the televoting system was being manipulated to boost Israel last year.
Israel comfortably topped the public voting in Basel at Eurovision 2025, and in the semi-finals scored maximum points in 13 out of 19 country votes.
In September, Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS said there was “evidence of interference by the Israeli government during the most recent edition”.
- AFP