Taoiseach Leo Varadkar opposed to boycotting Eurovision if Israel take part

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has opposed the idea of Ireland boycotting Eurovision 2024 should Israel take part in the competition.

“To unilaterally boycott something just because Israel is there, to me, that’s biting off your nose to spite your face,” he said, during his end-of-year sit-down with media.

“The only thing you do there is exclude our athletes, exclude our musicians. I don’t think a unilateral boycott by Ireland of any event or competition is the right way to go.”

The Eurovision song contest is due to take place in the Swedish city of Malmo in May 2024.

“With boycotts you can end up ostracising and alienating the people who we actually need to engage with,” continued Mr Varadkar, when questioned on whether or not he felt Israel should be excluded from the competition.

“We might actually make it harder for them to make the case for peace, to make the case for human rights within Israel, which is something they’re trying to do and they find very hard in the current environment.”

WOW! We have a stage! 🤩➕

Welcome to Malmö Arena! 🇸🇪 🥳#UnitedByMusic #Eurovision2024 pic.twitter.com/e6DfIZLsRx

— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) December 19, 2023

Tánaiste Micheál Martin also weighed in on the situation, echoing the Taoiseach’s sentiments.

“I understand why people would call for that and feel they must look at every opportunity, but in terms of its impact I’m not clear that it would have any impact,” said Mr Martin. “There’s a much greater complexity to this issue than is sometimes given credence”.

Russia was excluded from last year’s competition after organisers said that allowing the nation to take part would “bring the competition into disrepute”.

Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the European Broadcasting Union said it was “monitoring the situation” and that Russia would still be allowed to compete – a decision which was reversed within a day.