Swiss Eurovision champion Nemo returns winner's trophy to protest Israel's inclusion

Swiss singer Nemo, who won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, said on Thursday that they will return the winner's trophy because Israel is being allowed to compete in the politically troubled music competition.

In an Instagram video, Nemo held the microphone-shaped glass ornament and said "Today I no longer feel like this trophy belongs on my shelf."

"Eurovision says it stands for unity, for inclusion and dignity for all people," Nemo said, adding that Israel's participation, given its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza, shows those ideals are at odds with organisers' decisions.

The nonbinary singer won the contest in May 2024 with pop-operatic song "The Code."

Five countries - Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland - have announced they will boycott the 2026 event after organiser the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) declined to expel Israel.

"When entire countries withdraw it should be clear that something is deeply wrong," Nemo said before placing the trophy in a box they said would be sent to the Geneva headquarters of the EBU which runs Eurovision.

Next year's Eurovision is scheduled to take place in Vienna in May, after Austrian singer JJ won the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland. By Eurovision tradition, the winning country hosts the following year.

The walkouts cast a cloud over the future of what’s meant to be a feel-good cultural party marked by friendly rivalry.

The contest, which turns 70 in 2026, strives to put pop before politics, but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It has been roiled by the war in Gaza for the past two years, sparking protests and forcing organisers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

Opponents of Israel’s participation cite the war in Gaza, which saw more than 70,000 Palestinians killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israel's government has repeatedly defended its military campaign as a response to the attack by Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, which saw almost 1,200 people, mostly civilians, killed and 251 others taken hostage.

A number of experts, including those commissioned by a UN body, have said that Israel's offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim Israel has vigorously denied.