Netherlands Withdraws From Eurovision 2027 Over Israel As Jewish Winner Leaves Country (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

JERUSALEM/AMSTERDAM (Worthy News) – The Netherlands will boycott the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s participation, Dutch public broadcasting authorities confirmed Tuesday, reversing an earlier decision to return to the world’s largest televised music competition amid growing divisions over the war in Gaza.

Dutch Public Broadcasting organization NPO announced that no broadcaster wanted to take responsibility for the country’s entry, despite its September announcement that the Netherlands would participate after boycotting the 2026 contest.

Mounting pressure from pro-Palestinian campaigners preceded the reversal, including demands from some 400 public broadcasting employees that the Netherlands stay out of Eurovision while Israel remained a participant.

The controversy unfolds amid wider concerns about antisemitism in the Netherlands, where politicians have condemned intimidation targeting Jewish performers, including former Eurovision winner Lenny Kuhr.

NPO chairwoman Jet de Ranitz acknowledged that the decision would disappoint Eurovision fans but explained that the organization had been unable to establish a workable arrangement for Dutch participation.

BROADCASTERS OPPOSE RETURN

AVROTROS, traditionally responsible for the Dutch entry, had already withdrawn from the 2027 competition, arguing that Eurovision could no longer be considered politically neutral.

Its director-general, Taco Zimmerman, warned that international conflicts had transformed a competition intended to unite countries into a source of division.

Initially, NPO sought an alternative arrangement involving an independent team of experts, but resistance persisted among broadcasters and their employees.

Alongside Ireland, Iceland, Spain and Slovenia, the Netherlands boycotted the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in protest against Israel’s participation and its military offensive in Gaza.

Eurovision commentator Cornald Maas opposed the Dutch withdrawal, arguing that bringing countries together through music remained especially important during international tensions.

EUROVISION BOYCOTT WIDENS

Organizers at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) expressed disappointment over the Netherlands’ decision while acknowledging the strongly held opposing views surrounding Israel’s participation.

Amid the tensions, Lenny Kuhr, the Jewish singer who won Eurovision for the Netherlands in 1969 with “De Troubadour,” has announced her emigration to Israel, citing growing antisemitism.

Kuhr, 76, has also criticized the Dutch Eurovision boycott, arguing that music should bring people together rather than deepen political divisions.

“I don’t think you should make it so political,” she told Dutch public radio station NPO Radio 1. “Music is about being together, about bringing people together.”

Her comments followed threats and disruptions targeting her performances, including a March 2024 concert disrupted by pro-Palestinian activists who confronted her over Israel’s actions.

JEWISH WINNER FACES INTIMIDATION

In May, parliamentarian Jeremy Boon of the anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) raised concerns about a reported cancellation of a Kuhr performance amid fears of antisemitic intimidation.

Other politicians, including Ulysse Ellian of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Christian Union leader Mirjam Bikker, have previously condemned intimidation targeting Jewish performers and called for stronger public support for the Jewish community.

Tensions intensified on October 7 when pro-Palestinian demonstrators displayed banners supporting Hamas in Amsterdam, prompting criticism of Mayor Femke Halsema. She condemned the expressions as “shocking and distasteful,” but said police had found no criminal offense in the slogans. Authorities later dispersed the demonstration after participants refused to follow police instructions.

“The climate for Jews is no longer good here in the Netherlands,” Kuhr told regional broadcaster Omroep Brabant, expressing concern about growing hostility toward Jewish people.

The Netherlands is home to an estimated 35,000 Jews, according to the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research, compared with approximately 140,000 before World War II.

DUTCH JEWS REMEMBER HOLOCAUST

During the Nazi occupation, about 107,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands, mainly to concentration and extermination camps. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews perished in the Holocaust, including Anne Frank, whose diary became a worldwide symbol of Jewish suffering.

While concerns about growing antisemitism played a central role in her decision to leave the Netherlands, Kuhr also cited her husband’s health and the fact that her children and grandchildren live in Israel as reasons for relocating.

Speaking to Dutch Christian broadcaster EO in September, she explained that she and her husband expected to settle in Israel in early October.

Her move is known in Jewish tradition as aliyah, the immigration of Jews to Israel, often understood as a return to their ancestral homeland.

She leaves behind a nation where viewers will still be able to watch Eurovision, with Dutch public broadcaster NOS scheduled to televise the semifinals and final despite the Netherlands’ absence from the competition.

CONTEST CONTINUES WITHOUT DUTCH ENTRY

Burgas, Bulgaria, will host the 2027 competition after Bulgarian singer DARA won the 2026 contest with “Bangaranga.”

With five victories, including Kuhr’s 1969 triumph, the Netherlands has been among Eurovision’s longstanding participants.

For Dutch Eurovision supporters, the latest decision means another year without a national contestant, while the announced departure of one of the country’s best-known Jewish former winners underscores the wider divisions surrounding Israel and Jewish life in the Netherlands.

Christian supporters of Israel have also warned against holding Dutch Jews responsible for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Thousands attended a pro-Israel solidarity rally in Amsterdam in September, organized by Christians for Israel, where Christian and Jewish speakers expressed concern about rising antisemitism and hostility toward the Jewish community.

The gathering also attracted pro-Palestinian counterprotesters. Police detained approximately 45 people, who were subsequently released, while 13 formal arrests were recorded for alleged offenses including disrupting the demonstration and public violence.

GAZA WAR AND CIVILIAN CASUALTIES

Those protesting opposed Israel’s war in Gaza, which erupted after Hamas-led militants killed roughly 1,200 people, including children, and abducted 251 others during their October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, marking the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah.

Israel’s subsequent military offensive has killed more than 74,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israeli authorities have questioned the ministry’s figures and previously estimated that their forces had killed more than 24,000 militants in Gaza, although the latest independently verified militant death toll remains unclear.

Government and military officials in Jerusalem have additionally accused Hamas of operating among civilians and using civilian infrastructure for military purposes, arguing that these tactics have contributed to the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.