Swiss singer Nemo Mettler, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with The Code, is welcomed by supporters at Zurich airport on 12 May 2024 (Photo by AFP)

Swiss artist Nemo Mettler, winner of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, has announced they will return their trophy in protest at Israel being allowed to compete in the 2026 edition despite its genocidal war on Gaza.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed last week that Israel would remain eligible to participate, even as five countries - Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands - have declared they will boycott the event.

Nemo said the EBU`s decision contradicted the contest`s stated values of unity and inclusion.

Writing on Instagram on Thursday, Nemo said they were grateful for the opportunities the competition had brought them but added "Today I no longer feel this trophy belongs on my shelf... Israel`s continued participation, during what the UN`s Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded to be a genocide, shows a clear conflict between those ideals and the decisions made by the EBU."

Calls for a vote on Israel`s exclusion were raised at the EBU general assembly, with several broadcasters - including Spain`s RTVE - requesting a secret ballot.

The EBU declined the request and said most members did not believe a vote was necessary.

Pro-Palestine campaigners have promised they will continue to pressure more European national broadcasters to withdraw from the competition.

"It`s really disgraceful that the EBU didn`t have the vote on Israel`s participation, and it`s really shameful that the EBU hasn`t expelled Israel," said Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) chairperson Zoe Lawlor after the assembly.

She added that Russia was removed from Eurovision in 2022 following its special military operation in Ukraine.

Austria will host the 70th anniversary Eurovision contest in May 2026.

Israel`s 2025 contestant placed second, though allegations of voting irregularities later prompted Spain`s broadcaster to request an audit.

In response to mounting criticism, the EBU announced new measures on November 21 aimed at preventing fraud and coordinated voting manipulation.

On Sunday, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese praised a growing European boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest as a sign of shifting public conscience.

Albanese stated that the absence of sanctions or suspensions has allowed the Gaza genocide to be "normalized."

"Israel has not been suspended from the UN, international forums, UEFA, FIFA, FIBA, or cultural events," she wrote. "Genocide continues because it is normalized."