Swiss pop singer and rapper Nemo, the winner of the 2024 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, published a video on Thursday packaging the winner’s trophy and announcing an intention to return it in protest of Israel’s continued participation in the contest.
The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s most-watched live music event, attracting millions of viewers around the world. While Israel is not technically in Europe, it has competed in the contest since 1973 and won four times. Eurovision has historically welcomed non-European states with large contest fanbases, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Australia.
Hamas sympathizers and anti-Israel activists generally have consistently pressured the contest to expel Israel in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, genocidal Hamas invasion of the country, arguing that the situation mirrors that of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in Russia’s and Belarus’s expulsion from the event. Israel has also experienced an increase in support in the popular vote in the 2024 and 2025 contests following the Hamas invasion, winning the popular vote this year – resulting in anti-Israel activists accusing the country of “cheating” by allegedly campaigning for votes throughout Europe.
The European Broadcast Union (EBU) has repeatedly rejected calls to expel Israel and did so again following a meeting of its member national broadcasters in Europe. Five countries – Spain, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia – backed out of the contest in protest of Israel’s participation. Several countries, including host nation Austria, had warned prior to that meeting that they would withdraw in solidarity with Israel if it were expelled. A vote on whether to allow Israel to compete or not was canceled after the Israeli government signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal to end the Gaza conflict.
Joining outraged anti-Israel fans on Thursday, Nemo claimed in the video handing over the trophy that Israel’s presence in the contest undermines the values of “unity, inclusion, and dignity for all people” that Eurovision claims to represent. The singer indicated that the trophy can return to Nemo’s shelves when Eurovision aligns with the singer’s values, not explicitly making Israel’s ouster the requisite for its return.
“Even though I’m immensely grateful for the community around this contest and everything that this experience has taught me both as a person and as an artist, today I no longer feel like this trophy belongs on my shelf,” Nemo explained:
Eurovision says it stands for unity, for inclusion, and dignity for all people – and these are the values that made this contest so meaningful for me. But Israel’s continued participation during what the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded to be a genocide shows there’s a clear conflict between those ideals and the decisions the EBU is making.
This is not about individuals or artists; it’s about the fact that the contest was repeatedly used to soften the image of a state accused of severe wrongdoing all while the EBU insists that this contest is “non-political.” When entire countries withdraw, it should be very clear that something is deeply wrong, and that’s why I decided that I’m sending this trophy back to the EBU headquarters in Geneva with gratitude and with a clear message: Live what you claim.
If the values we celebrate on stage aren’t lived off stage, then even the most beautiful songs become meaningless.
The 2024 edition of Eurovision was especially frought with political conflict and antisemitism. Hosted by 2023 winner Sweden, Malmö, a city notorious for a rise in Islamist activity, attracted thousands of pro-Hamas protesters, resulting in a massive security threat to Israeli singer Eden Golan, who represented the country in the contest that year. Nemo was part of a clique of performers – including fellow “non-binary” Irish pagan performer Bambie Thug, ousted Dutch contestant Joost, Greek contestant Marina Satti, and Lithuanian contestant Silvester Belt – who were openly hostile to Israel and to Golan personally. Finnish rapper Käärijä, who came in second place in 2023 and participated in the 2024 and 2025 contests, faced a barrage of online hatred after being filmed being friendly and dancing with Golan, leading him to issue a statement distancing himself from the singer.
Nemo won the song contest decisively amid the chaotic climate of 2024 with the song “The Code,” a rap-opera performance about arriving at “non-binary” identity. The performer famously broke the trophy shortly after winning, causing it to require repairs.
The 2025 edition of the contest in Switzerland featured similar anti-Israel hatred, though the contestants were significantly less hostile to Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre on October 7. Pro-Hamas protesters surrounded the “turquoise carpet” welcome event for competitors before the contest; one such protester was filmed making a throat-slitting gesture at Raphael.
Despite the loud displays of disapproval, Raphael came in second in the contest and won the popular vote. Eurovision winners are chosen through a point system featuring both a professional jury and call-in votes from the public. Austria’s performer JJ, a professional opera singer, won the contest with his song “Wasted Love.”
Following Israel’s strong finish in the contest in May, a wave of antisemitic outrage surged online. The official Reddit page for the contest was forced to shut down for 12 hours due to “hate speech and strong emotional reactions.” Multiple countries threatened to withdraw from the contest if Israel continued to compete, prompting the EBU to announce a vote specifically on whether to keep Israel in the contest or not.
That vote was canceled when Israel signed a peace deal and the issue was added to a docket of others for a scheduled meeting of participating countries in December. That meeting resulted in the EBU defending Israel’s participation, but adopting new rules about countries campaigning for votes to address claims that Israel had “rigged” the contest.
Addressing the outrage from left-wing artists and countries, Martin Green, the EBU official in charge of the contest, published a letter on Thursday insisting that he recognizes the “anger and pain” in response to the organization’s decisions.
“We know many fans want us to take a defined position on geo-political events. But the only way the Eurovision Song Contest can continue to bring people together is by ensuring we are guided by our rules first and foremost,” Green asserted. “As we look to next year, we will ensure that all participating broadcasters respect the rules of the competition and if they don’t you have a personal pledge from me, we will not tolerate it and call it out.”
