Eurovision 2026 Israel Voting Scandal: NYT Exposes $1M Campaign, 5 Countries Boycotted — Did It Work?

# Eurovision 2026 Israel Voting Scandal: NYT Exposes $1M Campaign, 5 Countries Boycotted — Did It Work?

> **Quick answer:** A New York Times investigation found Israel's government spent over $1 million — $800,000 traceable to Netanyahu's hasbara office — on coordinated campaigns urging diaspora communities and supporters to vote for Israel at Eurovision 2024 and 2025. Five countries boycotted the 2026 Vienna contest in direct response. The EBU tightened its rules but imposed no formal sanctions. Israel's 2026 entry Noam Bettan finished second (343 points), leading the televote before Bulgaria's Dara pulled ahead on combined scores to win with 516 points.

The Eurovision Song Contest has survived Cold War tensions, political block voting, and decades of geopolitical drama. But the NYT investigation published ahead of this year's Vienna final may represent the most serious institutional integrity challenge in the competition's 70-year history — because for the first time, the money trail is documented, the government's role is on record, and five sovereign broadcasters voted with their feet.

## What the NYT Found: The Money, the Mechanics, and the $800K Hasbara Budget

The New York Times investigation drew on internal EBU documents and more than 50 interviews. Its central finding: Israel's government ran a systematic, multi-year, government-funded campaign to influence the Eurovision televote — spending at least $1 million across the 2024 and 2025 contests.

The breakdown matters legally and politically: