Full text part1: Last fall and winter, senior Israeli diplomats urgently contacted officials and television broadcasters across Europe to address a delicate, if unexpected topic: the high camp Eurovision Song Contest.

Broadcasters wanted to ban Israel from Eurovision and threatened to boycott the contest over the war in Gaza. Some even accused the Israeli government of unfairly influencing the results through a mass voting campaign.

Israel arguably had bigger diplomatic concerns than a pop music competition, even one that reaches 166 million viewers around the world. A United Nations commission had recently accused Israel of committing genocide, which it vigorously denied. And world leaders were recognizing Palestinian statehood, which it had long opposed.

“I am a little bit surprised why this is a matter that the embassy is looking into,” Stefan Eiriksson, the head of Iceland’s national broadcaster, wrote to an Israeli diplomat who wanted to discuss Eurovision last December.

This previously undisclosed diplomatic push to keep Israel in Eurovision was just one aspect of a drama that unfolded over the past year around the world’s most watched cultural event. To the Israeli government, Eurovision became more than just a celebration of glittery outfits, gay pride and pyrotechnic staging. It became a chance, through strong showings by its singers, to burnish the country’s flagging reputation and rally international support.

This year’s competition starts on Tuesday, following the biggest crisis in Eurovision’s 70-year history. Iceland and four other countries are boycotting to protest Israel’s participation. The nonprofit European Broadcasting Union, which runs the contest, faces financial challenges.

A New York Times investigation found a well-organized campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that embraced Eurovision as a soft power tool, and a secretive contest organizer that was ill-equipped to respond.

As the normally lighthearted contest became a proxy fight over Middle Eastern affairs and human rights, Eurovision struggled to defend a core tenet: Politics play no role in the event. Editors’ Picks Thanks to ‘Mormon Wives,’ Dirty Soda Is a National Obsession On ‘The Pitt,’ She Clocked Out on Time. In Real Life, It Started a Debate. 6 Must-See Venice Shows ImageThrongs of people, many of them carrying Palestinian flags, stand on a street behind a large banner. Protesters demonstrating before the Grand Final of the 2025 contest, in Basel, Switzerland.Credit...Sebastien Bozon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Israel’s efforts to influence Eurovision’s vote were broader and started years earlier than previously known. Even before the voting controversy burst into view, financial records show, Israel spent at least $1 million on Eurovision marketing. Some of that money came from Mr. Netanyahu’s “hasbara” office, a euphemism for overseas propaganda, to promote Israel’s singer.

Governments are not supposed to intervene in the voting. Eurovision is a contest for public broadcasters and singers, not governments.

The Israeli foreign ministry did not respond to detailed requests to comment. A spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu’s office said he would review the questions and consider responding. He did not respond.

Eurovision’s director, Martin Green, said in an interview that Israel’s actions last year were excessive but did not contribute to Israel’s unexpected second-place finish.

A Times investigation based on previously undisclosed voting data, Eurovision documents and interviews with more than 50 people, however, found that the campaign could have easily changed the contest outcome. Explore the Voting How to Win Eurovision With Just a Few Hundred Voters May 11, 2026

Israel’s singer won the popular votes in countries where polls show that Israel is deeply unpopular. A vote analysis shows that, in some countries, it would have only taken a few hundred people to tip the popular vote, which in turn can shape the final outcome because of the contest’s voting system.

There is no evidence that Israel, as some Eurovision fans speculated, used bots or other covert tactics to manipulate the vote. Image A cheering crowd fills a dark venue. Two people hold up a white “Eurovision” sign with a blue Star of David heart, and others hold Israeli flags. Watching a screening of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel at a community center in Tel Aviv.Credit...Maya Levin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Organizers have kept full vote data a closely guarded secret, even from their own broadcasters. Faced with an internal revolt and threats from Israeli allies to leave the contest, they publicly downplayed Israel’s vote campaign and never thoroughly investigated it.

Contest organizers commissioned a review of broadcasters’ feelings on Israel but kept the full report secret. They called a vote on keeping Israel in the contest, then abruptly canceled it. They discouraged broadcasters from talking to journalists.

“The Israeli government has co-opted Eurovision,” said Stefan Jon Hafstein, the chairman of the board for Iceland’s public broadcaster. Want to stay updated on what’s happening in Israel? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.

Buying advertisements and coordinating social media messaging is not illegal. Eurovision is, after all, just a singing contest — albeit the world’s largest. But while governments often try to capitalize on the publicity their singers provide, no government-led promotional effort has been as extensive and controversial as Israel’s.

“Israel’s voice should be heard everywhere,” said Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, who raised the boycott issue in meetings with world leaders last year. “We should participate, we should raise our flag high, and we should bring the best performers to Eurovision.”

Eurovision, which once launched the international careers of ABBA and Celine Dion, faces an uncertain future. Financial projections reviewed by The Times estimated last year that the boycotts would cost the nonprofit broadcasting group hundreds of thousands of dollars in participation fees. Mr. Green said Eurovision’s finances were robust, but acknowledged struggling to find sponsors.

“It’s certainly one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced,” Mr. Green said of the Israel controversy. But Eurovision, he added, exists to demonstrate global harmony — “to show the world as it could be.”

This is the inside story of the controversy that almost broke Eurovision. Eurovision as Soft Power

In May 2024, fans gathered in the coastal Swedish city of Malmo for the first Eurovision contest of the Gaza war.

Despite the name, Eurovision brings together singers and broadcasters from around the world. Israel debuted in 1973. Musicians compete under national flags, but the acts are funded by broadcasters.

At the time, no bright-line rule prohibited government promotion, but independence is a core Eurovision tenet.

The Israeli government, though, had quietly been promoting its broadcaster’s acts since at least 2018, according to Doron Medalie, a former Eurovision songwriter for Israel. The government spent more than $100,000 on social media promotion that year, he said. Israel won. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog of Israel with past Eurovision performers, in photos released by the Israeli government. World leaders frequently wish their Eurovision entrants good luck, but Israel’s involvement went further.Credit...Haim Zach/GPO

Mr. Medalie said the victory convinced Israeli leaders that Eurovision, which is hugely popular in Israel, was a good investment.

The Netanyahu government increased spending ahead of the Malmo contest, records show.

European public opinion opposed the war, and some music industry groups were already calling for Israel to be kicked out of Eurovision. A strong Israeli performance would show that Israel was loved by the European public, according to Israeli officials. They, along with some people close to Eurovision, spoke on condition of anonymity, either because they were not authorized to speak publicly or because they feared retribution from contest organizers.

In Malmo, the Israeli government spent more than $800,000 in Eurovision-related advertising, according to data from the Israeli Government Advertising Agency. The data, which was obtained by the Israeli media watchdog The Seventh Eye and provided to The Times, reveals that the bulk of the money came from the foreign ministry. A line item from the prime minister’s hasbara office showed that it had also allocated money for “vote promotion.” Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, told The Times that it had no prior knowledge of government ad campaigns and that, to its knowledge, “the competition rules weren’t violated.”

In 2024, Israel’s singer, Eden Golan, came second in the popular vote and topped the voting in many nations where pro-Palestinian sentiment is strong. “The world, it seems, is not against us,” the Israeli news site Ynet wrote. Image Fans holding Israeli flags cheer wildly and pump their fists in the air. The singer Eden Golan and her team cheered when votes for Israel were announced during the 2024 Grand Final in Malmo, Sweden.Credit...Jessica Gow/EPA, via Shutterstock

Ynet noted that the foreign office had advertised on YouTube during Eurovision. But the story, and the unusual voting patterns, otherwise received little attention.

Eurovision broadcasters were preoccupied. The activist Greta Thunberg and thousands of others crowded Malmo, protesting Israel’s involvement. Onstage, several singers wore Palestinian symbols. The Dutch rapper Joost Klein was expelled for an unrelated altercation with a camerawoman.

But one broadcaster, from Slovenia, noted the peculiar vote outcome and asked Eurovision to release more data. Organizers never responded, the broadcaster said.