{"id":24074,"date":"2026-05-15T16:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/24074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:52:16","slug":"spains-sanchez-defends-eurovision-boycott-over-illegal-war-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/24074\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain’s Sanchez defends Eurovision boycott over ‘illegal war, genocide’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his country\u2019s decision Friday to skip this year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest, saying Spain could not stay silent in the face of Israel\u2019s military actions in Gaza and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Pedro Sanchez, in a video message shared on X, said Spain\u2019s absence from the competition reflects its commitment to human rights and international law.<\/p>\n

“This year will be different,” Sanchez said, recalling Spain\u2019s public broadcaster RTVE’s decision to not participate, describing it as “both consistent and necessary: to stand up against injustice.”<\/p>\n

“That is why Spain is not participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, because our commitment to human rights and international law is also expressed through culture,” he said.<\/p>\n

The prime minister compared the move to the exclusion of Russia from the contest following its war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

“When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was barred from the contest, and Spain supported that decision. Those principles must also apply when we talk about Israel,” he said. “There can be no double standards.”<\/p>\n

The 2026 contest began on May 12 and its Grand Final is on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u2018Silence is not an option\u2019<\/p>\n

Sanchez said Spain has historically supported Eurovision because the competition was created to “promote peace,” “bring us together,” and “celebrate the diversity of the European continent.”<\/p>\n

“But in the face of illegal war and genocide, silence is not an option,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And we cannot remain indifferent to what continues to happen in Gaza and Lebanon. It is a matter of consistency, responsibility, and humanity,” he added.<\/p>\n

The Spanish leader also noted the similar stance of several other countries, including Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia, which would not participate in this year\u2019s contest.<\/a><\/p>\n

“This year, therefore, will be different — yes, we won\u2019t be in Vienna, but we\u2019ll be doing this with the conviction that we\u2019re on the right side of history,” Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

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\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his country\u2019s decision Friday to skip this year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4069,12507,201,275,205,17],"class_list":["post-24074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-eurovision-song-contest","tag-gaza-genocide","tag-lebanon","tag-palestine","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}