JJ, Austria’s representative and winner of the Eurovision 2025 final held Saturday night, voiced opposition to Israel’s participation in the competition during an interview with the Spanish outlet El País.
“I hope the competition next year will take place in Vienna—without Israel,” he said. “But the ball is in the European Broadcasting Union’s court. We artists can only raise our voices on the matter. It’s very disappointing that Israel is still taking part in the contest.”
Members of the Israeli delegation told Ynet that throughout the Eurovision event, the Austrian team was the only one that entirely ignored them. “They didn’t shun us demonstratively like last year,” one delegation member said, “but they avoided eye contact. It was very noticeable.”
JJ also joined critics of the contest’s voting system, following the surprise advancement of Israeli contestant Yuval Raphael, who reached the final thanks to the public vote. “There needs to be a change in the voting system. There should be more transparency in the televoting. This year everything was very strange on that front,” JJ said.
Since the final, several European broadcasters have called for a review of the televoting process. According to media reports, Spain’s national broadcaster asked the EBU to reexamine how home voting is conducted and to publish detailed voting breakdowns—after Raphael received douze points (12 points) from the Spanish public. Belgium’s Dutch-speaking VRT broadcaster issued a similar request and even warned it might withdraw from next year’s contest.
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Eurovision organizers have stated there is “no suspicion of bias or irregularities” in the voting process.
JJ, who won with the song “Wasted Love,” said he views his victory as a chance to advocate for LGBTQ rights across Europe. He also revealed that he attempted to bring a pride flag onstage during the final but was stopped by event staff. “The flag was in my pocket and just before I went onstage, someone from the organization saw it and said, ‘That’s not your national flag—you can’t take it out.’”