Vienna Is Tense Ahead of 2026 Eurovision Final
A spectator wears a palestine flag prior to prior to the second Semi-Final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest at Wiener Stadthalle on May 14, 2026 in Vienna, Austria
Photo by Christian Bruna/Getty Images
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As Eurovision nears its détente, Vienna’s divisions over the contest are on full display — especially in the cultural heart of the city, Maria-Theresien-Platz, where different political factions held opposing demonstrations over the past two days.
On Thursday a smattering of Israel supporters gathered at the Platz, named for an empress who once ruled the Habsburg Empire and is considered among the most intensely antisemitic monarchs of her era.
The event, marketed as a Eurovision Flashmob, was not very mob-like. Participants wore shirts that read Mazel Lov, held hands and sang Hava Nagila. Some wrapped themselves in Iranian flags that date back to before the 1979 revolution, and as a soft drizzle descended, a band played jazz.
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But still, I could sense a frisson of tension, continuing the charged atmosphere from earlier in the week. A few of the heavyset older men in the crowd either belonged to secret service or just really liked wearing bluetooth headsets while looking in all directions every few seconds. Police vans idled nearby.
Osnot Slomovitz, a longtime Vienna resident who was born in Israel, told me she’d come to support Noam Bettan, Israel’s contestant this year, whom she’d seen perform live. “It was amazing,” she said. “The song is so good.” Bettan and Israel will compete against 24 other finalists Saturday; Israel is considered by oddsmakers as the fifth-most likely to win the top prize.
Asked if she wanted to discuss the politics of Eurovision, Slomovitz replied that it was too complicated. “I’m raising my kids here and we try to live in peace and quiet,” she said. “We have a lot of security in our area — which is sad, actually, but this is how we have to live.” The competition pressed on this year with Israel but without five boycotting nations and a host of sponsors who had also pulled out.
Nearby, a woman wearing a keffiyah strewn with stars of David was standing beside two well-coiffed men in matching olive green jackets; their names were Amit Cotler and Yaniv Dornbush, and both were covering Eurovision for Israeli publications.
Cotler, who’s been writing about Eurovision since 2018 and works as a presenter on Channel 13 News in Israel, said security for Israeli contestants is so strict that historically even the directors of the telecast don’t know all of the protocols. This year, Shin Bet, Mossad and elite Austrian units are all guarding the contestant, according to reports.
Cotler pointed to a procession of vans with tinted windows winding their way around what looked like Westbahnstrasse, which borders the stadium where Eurovision is taking place, led by multiple police escorts. Noam, he said, was in one of them.
Still, Cotler says Vienna has felt much more relaxed than the past two Eurovisions he covered in Basel and Malmö. “Last year, there wasn’t a single day in which someone on our team didn’t break down and cry,” he says. “That’s how hostile the reception was.”
In the 2026 press barracks, the Israeli press team is sharing tables with German and Greek correspondents. “The Greek journalists like us,” Cotler says. “One of them was wearing a hostage pin last year, so we started sitting next to them.”
That said, neither journalist is particularly optimistic about Israel’s future in the competition. “If we win, it’s the end of Eurovision, I think,” Dornbush said. “It’s going to be complicated,” Cotler interrupted him.

***
The next day, a different crowd had descended upon Maria-Theresien-Platz. A group called “Palestina Solidaritat” was hosting an alternative “song protest,” timed to Nakba Day, in which Palestinians mourn the loss of their land after the 1948 war that established the modern state of Israel.
Flyers for the event had been ubiquitous around Vienna over the past month, featuring a microphone drenched in stage blood, the Eurovision logo set aflame.
More than a hundred demonstrators showed up to the event, which was co-sponsored by former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters. Many wore keffiyahs and watermelon earrings and waved Palestinian flags. The protest