LGBTQ campaigners denounce Eurovision 'pinkwashing' ahead of final

Queer activists have accused the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) of "pinkwashing" Israel ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday.

Thursday evening's show included a pre-recorded message about the LGBTQ community, often seen as a key audience for the event, detailing the history of the contest and its openness to the community.

However, many LGBTQ activists have been among those vocally opposing Israel's involvement and say the country and the EBU, which runs the event, are engaged in laundering Israel's reputation or "pinkwashing".

Omar Khatib, a queer Palestinian writer and organiser from Jerusalem, told Middle East Eye that people had a clear choice to make.

"Either you are against genocide and against the mass killing of Palestinians, or you are willing to normalise and coexist with it," he said.

"Eurovision has become another test of our collective humanity in this sense - the question is no longer whether culture and politics can be separated, but whether people are willing to continue celebrating spectacle while an ongoing genocide is being livestreamed to the world."

Khatib added that Eurovision's claims of political neutrality also rang hollow, saying it had become a stage where "liberalism, nationalism and colonialism intersect under the language of diversity and inclusion".

"This is why many queer Palestinians and organisers generally do not see Israel’s participation as simply another contestant in a song competition, but as part of a broader propaganda effort that weaponises queer existence in service of state violence," he said.

'Either you are against genocide and against the mass killing of Palestinians, or you are willing to normalise and coexist with it'

As a result of the anger over Israel's inclusion, many LGBTQ people will break with what may have been the habit of a lifetime and refuse to watch Saturday's final.

Activists from Queers for Palestine, who held a symposium in London last month, have instead urged LGBTQ people who might otherwise watch the Eurovision final to join the queer bloc at the annual Nakba Day demonstration in the capital, commemorating the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians during the creation of the State of Israel.

"Or why not organise a demonstration or a campaign asking your local LGBT venue to cancel their Eurovision screening, or show up with leaflets and explain to those attending how Eurovision enables settler-colonialism and genocide?" said Tara, a member of the group, speaking to MEE.

"Find those around you who want more from their queerness than annual shows of opulence dripping with blood, and set your sights again on what queerness is really all about: liberation."

Widespread controversy

The 2026 edition of the contest has been riddled with controversy over the EBU's decision in December to allow Israel to compete.

There have been demonstrations throughout the host city, Vienna, while there have been numerous expulsions of pro-Palestine campaigners who protested during the show, as well as audible booing and cries of "stop the genocide" during Israel's performances.

Israel will join Finland, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Norway, Romania, Malta, Cyprus, Albania, Denmark and the Czech Republic in the final of the contest in Vienna.

'As queer activists, we love freedom and dignity for everyone and we want to contribute to the end of this oppression'

The New York Times reported earlier this week 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".

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.

Israel has long attempted to portray itself as an LGBTQ-friendly country compared to its neighbours. Homosexuality is legal in the country, as is adoption by same-sex couples, though same-sex marriage has not been legalised.

Tel Aviv, in particular, has long portrayed itself as a regional hub for the LGBTQ community.

However, there has also been vocal opposition to LGBTQ rights by Jewish fundamentalists, while a 2025 Pew Research Center survey found 47 percent of Israelis view homosexuality as "morally unacceptable".

Queer Palestinians have also been the target of Israeli intelligence, often blackmailing them into collaboration with occupation forces.

Big Joanie, which describes itself as a feminist punk band, was one of more than 2,000 signatories to a No Music For Genocide petition condemning Israel's participation in Eurovision and calling for a boycott.

Lead singer and guitarist Stephanie Phillips told MEE that a desire to enjoy Eurovision could not take precedence over the violence in Gaza.

"I think there is definitely merit for an accusation of pinkwashing," she said.

"While I fully understand that Eurovision means a lot to the LGBTQ+ community, I also think it does not cancel out the reality that many Palestinians are living right now - there are LGBTQ+ Palestinians as well and I doubt they feel represented or seen by the choices of Eurovision."

Big Joanie's music has focused heavily on the experiences of Black and queer women.

Phillips said they weaved politics into "everything" they did and said they had no hesitation in signing the petition for the boycott, and said their audience had been overwhelmingly supportive of their campaigning for Palestinian rights.

"The only negative response was after a show in Cologne, Germany, when a guy accosted me in the crowd for dedicating a song to the Palestinian people and angrily asked why I didn't say 'fuck Hamas'," she said.

Tara said that there had long been hesitation in some quarters of the LGBTQ community over supporting Palestinians, and that many would be unwilling to back a boycott of Eurovision.

Reasons often cited include the social conservatism of Palestinian political leaders, particularly Hamas, under whose rule homosexuality is banned in Gaza.

However, they dismissed the claims of hypocrisy that pro-Israel activists have thrown at pro-Palestine LGBTQ campaigners.

"As queer activists, we love freedom and dignity for everyone and we want to contribute to the end of this oppression," said Tara.

"We, of course, also support our queer Palestinian friends and siblings when they struggle against the violence of patriarchy in their own society, as all queer people do everywhere in the world, including here in Britain - there is quite obviously nothing hypocritical about this."

The end of Eurovision?

Typically, the 25-country final of Eurovision reaches more than 150 million viewers around the world. This year, however, Saturday's broadcast is likely to be the least watched in the competition's history.

'I sadly think the contest is creating more division than unity'

Audience figures in countries still airing the contest have meanwhile slumped during the semi-finals.

On Friday afternoon, a pro-Palestine event featuring speeches and a concert was being held in downtown Vienna in parallel with Eurovision rehearsals for the final.

With all the controversy that the contest has garnered in 2026, there are those who fear for the future of Eurovision.

Danish 2013 contest winner Emmelie de Forest told MEE that, while it broke her heart, the contest'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."