{"id":429444,"date":"2025-09-16T17:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/429444\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T17:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:59:16","slug":"spain-threatens-to-boycott-eurovision-2026-if-israel-takes-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/429444\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain threatens to boycott Eurovision 2026 if Israel takes part"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eurovision\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Spain will boycott Eurovision 2026 if Israel takes part. (Getty)<\/p>\n

Spanish broadcaster RTVE has said it will boycott the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 if Israel is allowed to to take part.<\/p>\n

The news was announced<\/a> on Tuesday (16 September), following a vote called by the broadcaster\u2019s president, Jos\u00e9 Pablo L\u00f3pez. Ten members of the 15 RTVE board voted in favour of a boycott, one abstained.<\/p>\n

RTVE became the fifth broadcaster threatening to pull out of the contest<\/a>, which is set to be hosted in the Austrian capital, Vienna.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Ireland\u2019s broadcaster, RTE, said on Thursday (11 September) that because of \u201cthe ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza\u201d, it would be \u201cunconscionable\u201d<\/a> to take part alongside Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is RTE\u2019s position that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if the participation of Israel goes ahead,\u201d the spokesperson added, \u201cand the final decision regarding participation will be made once [organisers] the EBU [European Broadcasting Union] decision is made.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following day, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros followed suit, saying <\/a>they could \u201cno longer justify Israel\u2019s participation, in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"EurovisionEurovision 2026 is set to hosted by Vienna. (Eurovision Song Contest)<\/p>\n

An Avrotros spokesperson expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d about the \u201cserious erosion of press freedom\u201d and said there was \u201cproven evidence of interference by the Israeli government during the most recent edition of the Eurovision Song Contest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Slovenia and Iceland have also suggested that they will pull out, but Spain is the first of the \u201cbig five\u201d countries, those that make the greatest financial contribution to Eurovision, to announce a boycott. The other four are the UK, Italy, France and Germany.<\/p>\n

Responding to the boycotts<\/a>, according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, a spokesperson said: \u201cThe EBU has not made any proposals to [Israeli broadcaster] Kan regarding participation in next year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest\u201d, adding: \u201cThe consultation with the wider EBU membership is ongoing and no decisions will be made until the process concludes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Countries have until December to decide whether to take part.<\/p>\n

\"JJ\"Austria\u2019s JJ won Eurovision 2025. (Corinne Cumming\/EBU)<\/p>\n

Eurovision director Martin Green said: \u201cWe understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on Monday (15 September), BBC director general Tim Davie said<\/a> that he was \u201caware of the concerns\u201d regarding Israel but added that Eurovision had \u201cnever been about politics\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the EBU took the unprecedented step of barring Russia from the contest, following Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s inclusion in Eurovision has been contentious for some time, and earlier this year more than 70 former Eurovision stars signed an open letter calling for the country to be banned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Israel\u2019sIsrael\u2019s Yuval Raphael won the public vote this year. (Getty)<\/p>\n

The controversy reached fever pitch at this year\u2019s final, when Israel\u2019s Yuval Raphael won the public vote and finished second overall with her controversial song \u201cNew Day Will Rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday (16 September), a United Nations commission of inquiry decreed<\/a> that Israel\u2019s military action in Gaza constituted a genocide. A famine was recognised in the region last month.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s foreign ministry denounced the UN report as \u201cdistorted and false\u201d. Earlier this month, the UK said it had \u201cnot concluded\u201d that Israel was committing genocide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain will boycott Eurovision 2026 if Israel takes part. (Getty) Spanish broadcaster RTVE has said it will boycott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,19345,13735,2194,837,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-429444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-eurovision","11":"tag-eurovision-song-contest","12":"tag-gaza","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115215283388296236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}