Inside the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 as Israel, Finland Advance

Noam Bettan representing Israel celebrates during the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 at Wiener Stadthalle on May 12 in Vienna, Austria.

Christian Bruna/Getty Images

Eurovision‘s theme, “United by Music,” has rarely sounded more ironic as Vienna gears up to host the kitschy song contest.

On a boiling day a week ago, the city’s main stadium appeared more like a small military installation: new security cameras peered into the neighborhood — Vienna’s poorest — as staffers in lanyards sat in fold-out chairs, guarding every conceivable entrance. Fencing featuring the titles of past Eurovision hits — Rise Like a Phoenix, Wasted Love — rose from concrete traffic barriers: half-advertisement, half-warning.

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The concert hall, called Stadthalle, occupies a city block and is surrounded by residential buildings. It’s in a neighborhood with paltry access to parks, and now the green space around the Stadthalle is being sequestered as well, depriving residents of 30,000 square meters of parkland in the name of European unity. According to neighbors, Eurovision organizers are flying multiple drones over the stadium in the lead up to the event while unleashing dogs to ferret out potential explosives.

Still, the vibe was conspicuously relaxed a mere block away, where locals at a restaurant were smoking copiously, drinking beer and listening to Top 40.

As a new resident of Vienna, I was curious about how the city would balance silly bonhomie and serious security concerns at this year’s Eurovision, especially as Israel advances to the finals. Vienna is used to hosting major events, as well as protecting a sizable Jewish community; still, the world’s largest annual live music event, now entangled in a major geopolitical conflict, requires more than a few hired guards.

“Any large-scale major event will never be wholly immune from what’s happening in the world around it,” Martin Green, the director of Eurovision, told me. “Thankfully, we’ve got brilliant people on it who know that having fun is serious business.”

Tensions around security have already ratched up in recent days. “We won’t let ourselves be terrorised into silence,” Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig of the Social Democrats said angrily to a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who blew whistles at a concert he was speaking at this past Friday.

“Unfortunately we will need large security measures because of people like you, for example. That will incur great expense, but we will nevertheless hold a festival of togetherness, I can promise you that,” he said.

Lithuanian singer Lion Ceccah, representing Lithuania with the song “Solo Quiero Mas,” performs during the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, on May 12.

GEORG HOCHMUTH/APA/AFP/Getty Images

This year, Vienna is deploying 500 private security personnel, 180 new cameras, counter-drones and sniffer dogs, while teaming up with an FBI task force in New York to monitor cyber threats. It’s a dizzying security setup for a celebration better known for absurdist set pieces, ironic nationalism, and nonsensical lyrics. This year, the contenders include a UK musician who builds instruments out of Furby toys and another whose entry is an ode to erotic asphyxiation.

Over 1,700 songs have been performed on Eurovision’s stage since the competition’s inception— including by icons like ABBA and Céline Dion —but as the festival has ballooned in size and scope, it has also become a political lightning rod.

Now, five countries — Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands — have pulled out of the competition because of Israel’s inclusion. It’s being called the largest politically-motivated boycott in Eurovision history.

“Each country’s boycott is politically significant given their connection to Eurovision,” says Eurovision scholar Dean Vuletic. Spain has historically been one of the “big five” countries, which automatically qualifies it for the grand finale, while the Netherlands has been part of the competition since the very start, and Ireland holds the record, along with Sweden, for most wins.

Then there’s Iceland, which may be tiny but is arguably the world’s most Eurovision-obsessed nation — last year’s finale captured a 97.8% viewing share, meaning virtually every television in the country that was turned on was also tuned in.

Slovenia, notably, is rooting its refusal to join the competition in its recent experience of war. Nataljia Gorscak, who runs Slovenia’s national broadcasting organization, RTV Slove