Israeli Government Spent $800,000 on Eurovision Vote Ads
The eurovision vote dispute now has a price tag: the Israeli government spent at least $800,000 on ads to promote its contestant in 2024. The spending, detailed in a Monday investigation, adds a government-backed campaign to a contest already under pressure after the 2025 results split the jury and fan vote.
Doron Medalie and 2024 spending
Records from the Israeli Government Advertising Agency show the 2024 ad buy, and the report says the campaign in 2025 was even larger. Doron Medalie, the Israeli songwriter, said the government has been running media campaigns to support its competitors since at least 2018 and said, “Everybody is jealous and triggered because Israel is achieving great results,”
That figure lands in a competition where results already came apart at the seams. In May 2025, Austrian singer JJ won Eurovision, while Israel’s Yuval Raphael finished second overall, placed 14th by the official juries, and won the fan vote. The split made the financing behind promotion harder to ignore because the argument was no longer just about taste or politics; it was about how much effort was being poured into a contest that is supposed to turn on votes.
EBU rule changes after 2025
Members of the European Broadcasting Union voted by secret ballot to change the rules after the 2025 controversy, and the report said it did not find evidence of bot voting or other covert tactics used to directly manipulate the vote. Israel has competed since 1973 and hosted Eurovision in 2019 after winning in 2018, so this is not a newcomer trying to force its way in; it is an established participant facing a new level of scrutiny.
Iceland, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia have said they will not participate in Eurovision 2026 as long as Israel remains in the competition. For broadcasters and delegations, that turns the issue into a programming and participation problem, not just a political one: the ad spending is now part of the record, and the next round of decisions will determine whether those countries stay out or return to the field.
