Spain Threatens Eurovision Boycott if Israel Competes, Joining Several European Broadcasters
RTVE's board decision adds pressure on the European Broadcasting Union amid fallout from the Gaza war and recent disruptions at Spain's Vuelta race.
Spain announced Tuesday that it will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is allowed to compete, joining a growing group of European broadcasters taking the same stance amid the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Spanish public broadcaster RTVE made the decision at a board meeting in Madrid, the Associated Press reported. The Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia had already threatened boycotts unless Israel is excluded, placing additional pressure on both Israel and the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest.
The move follows a period of heightened diplomatic tensions between Spain and Israel, including large protests that disrupted the Spanish Vuelta cycling race over the presence of an Israeli-owned team. Spain’s prime minister said Monday that he would like Israel to be banned from sporting events, a comment that preceded RTVE’s formal decision.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said last week it was consulting its members on how to “manage participation and geopolitical tensions” around the song contest and gave members until mid-December to confirm whether they will take part. Eurovision’s finale is scheduled for May in Vienna.
Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Israel, by contrast, has continued to participate in recent years despite growing disputes over its inclusion. Broadcasters that have threatened boycotts say the EBU must address the political and humanitarian concerns linked to Israel’s participation.
RTVE’s vote adds a prominent Western European public broadcaster to those taking a hard line, complicating the EBU’s deliberations and raising the prospect of a politically fraught lead-up to next year’s contest. The EBU has not announced a final decision on Israel’s eligibility and has cited its longstanding rules prohibiting political content in performances while also acknowledging the difficulty of insulating cultural events from geopolitical conflicts.
Officials in the countries that have threatened boycotts have framed their positions as responses to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and as calls for broader international pressure. Any withdrawal by multiple broadcasters could affect the contest’s composition and logistics, and would mark a rare instance of coordinated threats to boycott Eurovision over a single country’s participation.
The EBU’s mid-December timeline leaves several months for member broadcasters to debate how to proceed. Organizers and participating broadcasters face competing pressures: to preserve Eurovision’s image as a pan-European cultural event while responding to intensified public and political scrutiny related to the conflict in the Middle East.