Bulgaria won the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 on Saturday,while Israel faced boos after finishing in second place.
This year’s final was among the least attended and least watched in the contest’s history after five countries – Spain, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia – withdrew over Israel’s participation. A boycott campaign also led many viewers to avoid the event.
The victory for Bulgarian pop singer Dara, whose full name is Darina Yotova, marks the country’s first-ever Eurovision win in the contest’s 70-year history.
“Everything is possible: Bulgaria just won Eurovision,” Dara told a press conference.
“I really like breaking rules. I’m really good with following my rules – not anybody else’s. We wanted to give to the audience something new and fresh, something that is not expected.”
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Boos were heard during the announcement of Israel’s public vote score.
Pro-Palestinian activists held a protest in Vienna on Saturday, with around 2,000 people attending, according to the police.
The 2026 edition of the contest has been riddled with controversy following a December decision by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to allow Israel to compete.
The New York Times reported that Israel had spent more than $1m on using Eurovision as a “soft power” tool to “burnish the country’s flagging reputation and rally international support”.
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According to the outlet, the country began its promotional campaign in 2018, as questions about Israel’s participation grew amid its continued expansion and military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The EBU dodged a bullet with Bulgaria’s win as a victory for Israel would have meant holding the festival in the country next year.
However, the controversy has been extremely damaging for the contest, with some saying it risks the future of the event.
Spain, one of Eurovision’s “Big Five” countries that automatically qualify for the final and contribute much of the contest’s funding, refused to air the event through its public broadcaster RTVE.
“The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition, but human rights are not. There is no room for indifference,” the broadcaster said.
“Peace and justice for Palestine.”
Belgian broadcaster VRT said ahead of the final that it was unlikely to compete in next year’s Eurovision if EBU did not hold a direct vote on Israel’s participation in the contest.
Danish Eurovision 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest told Middle East Eye that, while it broke her heart, Eurovision’s decisions “increasingly leave people feeling conflicted, divided or alienated from it”.
“I think it has already done a lot of damage to Eurovision, and that makes me genuinely sad to say because the contest has been such a meaningful part of my life,” she said.
“I sadly think the contest is creating more division than unity. The controversy surrounding Israel’s participation, the backlash from fans and artists, the countries withdrawing and the growing distrust toward the EBU have all fundamentally changed the atmosphere around Eurovision.”
