- May 19, 2026
- 3:00 pm
- Israel
All figures in this article are taken from open sources: Ben Gurion Airport data, open flight schedules, and publicly available reports on broadcasters’ decisions. Anyone can verify this data online and compare it independently.
Eurovision, boycott, and shekels: Israelis made noise on social media, but planes still fly
5 countries refused to participate in ‘Eurovision 2026’ due to Israel’s inclusion: Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, and Slovenia. After this, a loud wave of indignation began in Israeli social media. Some called the decision of these countries anti-Israeli, others spoke of double standards, and others directly wrote about anti-Semitism disguised as a political position.
But behind the emotional posts, a very practical question arose: what can ordinary Israelis do if they are not politicians, diplomats, or TV channel executives?
The answer on social media was simple: don’t go there, don’t vacation there, don’t buy tickets, don’t spend shekels there.
And here the story becomes more interesting. If you compare May 2025 — that is, the period before the boycott announcement — with May 2026, when the boycott had already occurred, it turns out: the loud online protest did not turn into a mass refusal to travel. At least, the open aviation picture does not show this.
When five countries began to refuse Eurovision
The first wave of statements began in the fall of 2025.
Iceland was the first to indicate the possibility of refusal to participate — September 9, 2025. The final refusal was confirmed on December 10, 2025.
Ireland stated its position on September 11, 2025: not to participate if Israel is allowed to compete.
The Netherlands announced a similar condition on September 12, 2025.
On the same day, September 12, 2025, Slovenia indicated the same position.
Spain joined on September 16, 2025, when RTVE supported the refusal to compete with Israel’s participation.
After the EBU decision on December 4, 2025, when it became clear that Israel would not be excluded, the boycott became a fact. As a result, 35 countries participated in ‘Eurovision 2026’ — the lowest number since 2003.
For Israel, this looked not just like a dispute around a music contest. Against the backdrop of war, international pressure, and constant attempts to exclude Israel from cultural, sports, and academic platforms, the decision of five countries quickly became a symbol.
May 2025: how it was before the boycott
May 2025 is important as a point of comparison. At that time, there were no September statements from the five countries, no December EBU decision, no calls in Israeli social media ‘not to fly there’ and ‘not to leave our money there.’
In May 2025, 1,448,420 international passengers and 10,759 international flights passed through Ben Gurion Airport.
Among the five countries that later refused to participate in ‘Eurovision 2026’ due to Israel, the main destination was Spain. In May 2025, there were 62,120 passengers on Spanish routes.
By cities, it looked like this:
Barcelona — 32,091 passengers
Madrid — 28,904 passengers
Malaga — 519 passengers
Palma de Mallorca — 560 passengers
The Netherlands was also a noticeable destination: 23,352 passengers in May 2025. In fact, this entire flow went through Amsterdam.
Slovenia was almost a pinpoint route — 432 passengers per month.
For Ireland and Iceland, no significant direct route was visible in the official table.
That is, even before the boycott, Spain and the Netherlands were already not abstract countries from political news for Israelis, but real routes. They flew there for vacations, to relatives, on business, on transfers, to concerts, for business, or just for short European holidays.
May 2026: after the boycott, flights did not disappear
And now — the main check.
May 2026 is already the period after the refusal of five countries to participate in ‘Eurovision’ due to Israel. This is the period after the indignation, after the loud posts, after the calls: ‘what can we, ordinary people, do? We won’t go, we won’t spend shekels there.’
But according to open schedules, direct flights to these destinations did not disappear.
Spain remained the most active destination of the entire five. The estimate for May 2026 is about 102 direct flights:
about 15 flights per week Tel Aviv — Barcelona
about 8 flights per week Tel Aviv — Madrid
If you carefully calculate based on the average capacity of a narrow-body aircraft and a load of about 80–90%, this could mean approximately 14.5–17 thousand passengers per month only on direct flights from Israel to Spain.
For the Netherlands — about 53 direct flights in May, approximately 12 flights per week on the Tel Aviv — Amsterdam route. In passenger estimation, this is about 7.5–9 thousand people per month.
For Ireland — 0 direct flights.
For Iceland — 0 direct flights.
For Slovenia, the regular base showed 0 flights per week, but a possible direct Israir flight to Ljubljana on May 26, 2026, was separately visible. If you count this flight, it’s another approximately 130–170 passengers.
In total, for the five countries in May 2026 — approximately 155–156 direct flights and approximately 22–26 thousand passengers on direct flights from Israel. Almost all of this flow falls on Spain and the Netherlands.
Important: this is not the final official passenger flow for May 2026, but a cautious estimate based on open schedules and typical aircraft capacity. But even such an estimate shows the main thing: a complete refusal of these destinations is not visible.
What the comparison with May 2025 shows
For an honest comparison, the methodology must be considered.
In May 2025, Ben Gurion’s official statistics show the total passenger flow by destinations — in fact, there and back. For Spain, this is 62,120 passengers, for the Netherlands — 23,352, for Slovenia — 432.
If you very cautiously divide this flow in half, then only departures from Israel account for about 31 thousand passengers to Spain, about 11.7 thousand to the Netherlands, and about 200–220 people to Slovenia.
In May 2026, the final official report for the entire month is not yet available, but according to the visible schedule of direct flights, the flow from Israel can be estimated at approximately 22–26 thousand passengers for the five boycott countries, almost entirely due to Spain and the Netherlands.
If you count both sides of the route — there and back, this can give approximately 44–52 thousand passengers.
That is, after the loud calls on social media ‘not to fly there and not to spend shekels there,’ a complete refusal of these destinations is not visible. Yes, the estimated assessment for May 2026 is lower than the official total flow of May 2025, but the routes have not disappeared. Spain and the Netherlands continue to remain real destinations for Israelis even after the political Eurovision boycott.
This is where the main nerve of the story lies, which NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency draws attention to: on social media, the boycott sounds sharp and confident, but passenger behavior turns out to be much more complex.
Spain: the most noticeable example of contradiction
Spain became one of the most discussed boycott countries. Its position caused especially many sharp comments in Israel. On social media, Spain was often called an example of European hypocrisy: they say, the country demonstratively refuses the contest because of Israel, but Israeli tourists still continue to bring money there.
And the numbers make this dispute especially uncomfortable.
In May 2025, before the boycott announcement, Spain gave 62,120 passengers through Ben Gurion. In May 2026, already after the boycott, approximately 102 direct flights to Spanish destinations, primarily Barcelona and Madrid, are visible in the schedules.
The estimated passenger assessment only for departures from Israel — approximately 14.5–17 thousand people per month.
This does not look like a massive ‘we are not flying there anymore.’
The Netherlands: less emotion, but the route remained
The Netherlands was discussed quieter than Spain or Ireland, but they were also on the list of five countries that refused to participate because of Israel.
In May 2025, the Netherlands gave 23,352 passengers, in fact through Amsterdam. In May 2026, the direct Tel Aviv — Amsterdam route remained visible in the schedules: about 53 flights per month.
The estimated assessment — approximately 7.5–9 thousand passengers only from Israel.
Yes, the situation with individual carriers could be unstable, and airline plans changed. But as a destination, Amsterdam did not disappear from the Israeli map.
Ireland, Iceland, and Slovenia: more symbols than traffic
Ireland and Iceland are politically important in this story, but not as major direct aviation destinations from Israel. There was no significant direct flow visible for them in May 2025, and there were no direct flights in May 2026 either.
Slovenia is a separate small case. In May 2025 — 432 passengers. In May 2026 — the regular base showed 0 flights per week, but a possible direct Israir flight to Ljubljana on May 26 was separately visible. Even if you count it, we are talking about approximately 130–170 passengers.
Therefore, the real test of network calls does not pass through Ireland, Iceland, or Slovenia. The main destinations are Spain and the Netherlands.
Eurovision Israel did not lose
Another important point: the contest itself was not a defeat for Israel.
Despite the refusal of five countries, Israel remained on stage. Israeli representative Noam Bettan took second place, receiving 343 points, of which 220 points were from the audience vote.
This noticeably changed the emotional background. If the boycott had been accompanied by Israel’s failure, the reaction could have been heavier. But it turned out differently: five countries left, and Israel was among the main participants of the season.
Therefore, there was not only indignation on social media but also sarcasm: they boycotted, but the audience still voted.
The main conclusion: the noise was loud, the boycott with the wallet — no
Israelis were indeed outraged. There were many sharp words, accusations, calls not to go to these countries and not to spend money there on social media.
But the comparison with May 2025 shows: after the boycott, there is no sharp refusal of the destinations that were important for Israelis before. This especially applies to Spain and the Netherlands.
May 2025 was before the boycott. May 2026 — already after the boycott and after the calls ‘not to bring shekels there.’ But planes still fly, and passengers still buy tickets.
This is the main paradox. In comments, you can demand a tough response. At the airport, people still go to boarding.
The story of ‘Eurovision 2026’ showed not only the political demarche of five countries but also the difference between network emotion and real life. Israelis can sharply criticize European countries for anti-Israeli decisions, but they are not always ready to turn this anger into a personal economic boycott.
The noise was loud. The suitcases — even louder.