{"id":36571,"date":"2026-08-27T05:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T05:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=36571"},"modified":"2026-08-27T05:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T05:03:18","slug":"the-netherlands-pulls-out-of-eurovision-2027-over-concerns-about-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=36571","title":{"rendered":"The Netherlands pulls out of Eurovision 2027 over concerns about Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dutch broadcaster cites Gaza suffering, press restrictions as factors contributing to deepening Eurovision divisions.<a class=\"  \" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1195722&amp;display=popup&amp;ref=plugin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a class=\"  \" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=The%20Netherlands%20pulls%20out%20of%20Eurovision%202027%20over%20concerns%20about%20Gaza&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1195722&amp;counturl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1195722\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a class=\"  \" href=\"https:\/\/api.whatsapp.com\/send?text=The%20Netherlands%20pulls%20out%20of%20Eurovision%202027%20over%20concerns%20about%20Gaza%20%0A%20https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1195722%3Futm_source%3Dwhatsapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Netherlands will not take part in the&nbsp;<em>Eurovision Song Contest<\/em>&nbsp;in 2027, Dutch public broadcaster&nbsp;<em>AVROTROS<\/em>&nbsp;has said, citing concerns over the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on the event\u2019s neutrality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>AVROTROS<\/em>&nbsp;said on Monday the contest could no longer be considered neutral while a participating country remained involved in a large-scale military conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The broadcaster said it had spent the past year calling on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises&nbsp;<em>Eurovision<\/em>, to introduce transparent rules governing the participation of countries involved in military conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However,&nbsp;<em>AVROTROS<\/em>&nbsp;said recently announced changes by the EBU had not provided enough confidence that the contest\u2019s independent and neutral character had been restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its decision, it said, was consistent with its values of \u201ctrustworthiness, independence and humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>AVROTROS<\/em>&nbsp;also pointed to the humanitarian suffering in Gaza and restrictions on press freedom as factors that had contributed to growing divisions around&nbsp;<em>Eurovision<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It said five countries had decided&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/images.dawn.com\/news\/1194565\/iceland-becomes-latest-country-to-back-out-of-eurovision-over-israels-participation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">not to participate<\/a>&nbsp;in the 2026 contest, while former winners had&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/images.dawn.com\/news\/1194578\/winner-of-eurovision-1994-pledges-to-return-his-trophy-as-soon-as-he-finds-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">returned their trophies<\/a>&nbsp;and more than 1,000 musicians and cultural professionals had signed an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/images.dawn.com\/news\/1195197\/macklemore-kneecap-1100-other-musicians-call-for-eurovision-boycott-over-israeli-inclusion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">open letter<\/a>&nbsp;calling on the EBU to intervene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The broadcaster said the developments highlighted the need for a clear framework explaining when a country involved in a military conflict can take part in a contest that is intended to remain neutral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe\u00a0<em>Eurovision Song Contest<\/em>\u00a0was created to bring people and countries together,\u201d\u00a0<em>AVROTROS<\/em>\u00a0director-general Taco Zimmerman said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the&nbsp;<em>Contest<\/em>, undermining its neutral character. The&nbsp;<em>Eurovision Song Contest<\/em>&nbsp;has therefore become a platform for division.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Israel continues to block agreed quantities of food, medicine, medical supplies, shelter materials and prefabricated homes from entering Gaza, where around 2.4 million Palestinians live, including 2.15m displaced people, under catastrophic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ongoing Israeli violations of the ceasefire have killed 1,286 Palestinians and injured 4,257 others as of Sunday, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry also said the overall toll from Israel\u2019s war on Gaza since October 2023 had risen to 73,420 killed and 174,369 injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reference Link:- <a href=\"https:\/\/images.dawn.com\/news\/1195722\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/images.dawn.com\/news\/1195722<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dutch broadcaster cites Gaza suffering, press restrictions as factors contributing to deepening Eurovision divisions. The Netherlands will not take part in the&nbsp;Eurovision Song Contest&nbsp;in 2027, Dutch public broadcaster&nbsp;AVROTROS&nbsp;has said, citing concerns over the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on the event\u2019s neutrality. AVROTROS&nbsp;said on Monday the contest could no longer be considered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[25701,34075,34073,1475,24303,5392,25079,34074,29081,18540],"class_list":["post-36571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-annexation-of-west-bank","tag-concerns-over-gaza","tag-eurovision-2027","tag-genocide-in-gaza-2","tag-israeli-atrocities-2","tag-israeli-brutalities-2","tag-netherlands-2","tag-pulls-out","tag-settlers-2","tag-zionism-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36572,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36571\/revisions\/36572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}