More political than ever, Eurovision competition is threatened with the boycott. After Slovenia, it is the turn of Spain to request actions from the UU, which organizes the competition, with respect to the participation of Israel. The Spanish Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, spoke on television on September 8, the possibility of not participating, if Israel was not excluded. However, the decision would return to RTE, Spanish public television.
Martin Green, the Eurovision director said “Understand the deeply rooted concerns and opinions regarding the current conflict in the Middle East.”
“Each member decides if you want to participate in the festival and respect any decision made.”
The URU has decided to extend the period granted to countries until mid -December to confirm their participation in the Eurovision 2026 competition in Vienna, without risk of financial sanction.
Omnipresent conflict
Last April, already, before the 2025 edition of the competition, the Spanish public audiovisual group requested “a debate” on the participation of Israel in Eurovision. RTVE also spread, before the competition, on May 17, a message that asks for peace in Palestine and respect for human rights. Thus frying the instructions of the Uue that insists on the apolitical character of the event.
A participation promises because since October 7, 2023 and the beginning of the war that Israel was directed in the Gaza Strip, in response to Hamas’s terrorist attack, the conflict is regularly invited to competition.
Either through demonstrations, in 2023 in Malmö and in 2024 in Basel, or demands the exclusion of Israel accused of genocide against the population of Gaza, the conflict is omnipresent in Eurovision. The Uuer, who acams in his position so as not to exclude Kan, Israeli public television.
After the last edition of the competition in Basel, won by the Austrian JJ, the score of the candidate of the Israeli candidate Yuval Raphaël, second arrived, also aroused the controversy. Several European stations have requested to shed light on the count of the public points granted to Israel.
Placed in position 15 at the end of the vote of the international jurors with only 60 points, the candidate of the Hebrew State was found at the top of the public with 297 points. A last minute turn that aroused the skepticism of some of the international competitions and, in particular, RTVE.
JJ, Johannes Piettsch of his real name, the winner of the last edition, begged a week after his victory, so that the next competition takes “without Israel.” Believing that “the ball” was “in the camp” of the organizer.
Source: BFM TV
