Eurovision 2024 winner to return trophy over Israeli participation

Nemo Mettler, who won the Eurovision 2024 for Switzerland, on Thursday decided to return his trophy protesting against Israeli participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 scheduled to be held in Vienna.

The artist in a post on his social media platform Instagram also criticised the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for allowing Israel in the contest, which he termed as contradictory to its ideologies.

“Eurovision says it stands for unity, inclusion, and dignity for all. Those values made this contest meaningful to me. But Israel's continued participation, during what the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded to be a genocide, shows a clear conflict between those ideals and the decisions made by the EBU,” Nemo wrote in his post.

“And even though I'm immensely grateful for the community around this contest and everything this experience has taught me both as a person and artist, today I no longer feel this trophy belongs on my shelf,” he added.

Nemo won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest held in Malmö, Sweden with the song 'The Code’.

Meanwhile, several European public broadcasters have announced they will withdraw from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided not to exclude Israel from the competition.

A majority of the musicians and performers competing in Festival da Cancao 2026 (Song Festival 2026) announced that they will refuse to represent Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 if they win the national competition, in protest against Israel's participation.