Spain Confirms It Will Boycott Eurovision 2026 If Israel Participates
Spain has become the latest country to announce that they will not be participating in next year’s Eurovision song contest if Israel participates. The head of Spain’s broadcaster, RTVE, stated that “the genocide currently taking place makes it impossible for us to look the other way.”
Spain is the first of the “big five” Eurovision contestants to make this declaration. The “big five” refers to the nations that contribute the most money to the song contest event; the other four countries are France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
Slovenia, Ireland, and the Netherlands have also made the choice to not participate should Israel compete. The vote for Spain was held the same day as a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
José Pablo López, president of RTVE, said that the broadcasters that make up the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the contest, should no longer remain silent about the situation occurring in Gaza.
“As joint organizers of the Eurovision song contest, we share a collective responsibility,” he said.
“While Israel has regularly participated in the competition, the current events and the genocide currently taking place make it impossible for us to look the other way.”
“It is not accurate to claim that Eurovision is merely an apolitical music festival. We are all aware that the contest carries significant political implications. The Israeli government is equally aware of this fact and leverages the event on the international stage,” he added.
Israel denied that it’s committing genocide in in Gaza, and its ambassador to the UN, Daniel Meron, said the report made by the UN commission of inquiry was “scandalous and fake,” the Guardian reports.
The EBU opened up a consultation process back in July with the 37 broadcasters who took part in Eurovision last year to discuss and debate Israel’s participation in the 2026 contest. Typically broadcasters have to inform the EBU about their participation by October, however, this year the deadline has been extended to December.
López stated that RTVE is hoping Spain’s “visible, meaningful stand” would be taken seriously and properly received by other EBU members, and lead to a decision to be made sooner rather than later.
“Our hope is that a decision can be reached well before December, as the EBU must be aware of the serious damage being done to the Eurovision song contest, which will mark its 70th anniversary in 2026,” he stated.
“Therefore, we hope this decision will be made earlier and that the EBU won’t be subjected to the stress of a last-minute vote in London in December. We believe that, for the good of the festival and the values it has championed since its inception, this matter must be resolved before the scheduled assembly.”
Eurovision is one of the biggest television events in the world, garnering over 160 million viewers this year. 2026’s contest will take place in Vienna in May.
Russia was banned from the contest after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 while Israel has been able to compete over the past two years despite the multitude of international concerns.
RTV, Slovenia’s public broadcaster, was the first to announce that they wouldn’t participate in Eurovision, followed by RTÉ in Ireland, and then Avrotros in the Netherlands.
Avrotros stated:
“The broadcaster also expresses deep concern about the serious erosion of press freedom: the deliberate exclusion of independent international reporting and the many casualties among journalists.”
Iceland’s public service broadcaster, RÚV also said they “reserved the right to withdraw” from Eurovision after claiming they were considering their position in the competition.
Director of culture and factual content at Finnish public broadcaster, Yle, Johanna Törn-Mangs, said:
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is tragic, and we sincerely hope for an end to the suffering as soon as possible. Israel’s participation in Eurovision has been a significant topic of discussion in Finland and we have been consistently informing the EBU about the conversations happening here.”
“The EBU is therefore well aware of the public discussion in Finland. At Yle, we have received – and continue to receive – weekly feedback on this issue, both supporting and opposing Israel’s continued participation in the Eurovision song contest.”
The director of Eurovision, Martin Green, recently spoke about their recognition of the concerns regarding Israel’s participation in the contest.
“We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision song contest … It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
