Spain first of Eurovision ‘big five’ to decide on boycott if Israel participates | Eurovision

Spain has become the last country to say that if Israel joins, it would not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest next year.

If the state publisher RTVE Board of Directors are among the countries that have entered the next year, Israel mostly voted to boycott the competition.

The first of the “big five” Eurovision countries, which made the biggest financial contributions to the event, are in response to the attack of France, Germany, Italy and England – in response to Israel’s attack in Gaza.

The decision was concluded on the same day with the UN Investigation Commission and Israel in Gaza.

There were similar decisions about Eurovision from Slovenia, Ireland and the Netherlands.

RTve said in a statement: “In July, RTve asked Abu [the European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision] For a serious and deep debate, he will participate in Israel’s next Eurovision Festival. Other countries supported Spain’s demand. “

He said that the withdrawal movement from the 2026 event was carried by 10 votes with a abstainer. RTve said that the decision would not affect Benidorm Fest, the annual competition in which Spain has chosen the Eurovision entry, because this event is a Festival Festival with its own festival ”.

The next Eurovision song contest will take place in Vienna in May. Eurovision is one of the world’s largest TV events with more than 160 million viewers.

Russia banned from the competition After the occupation of Ukraine in 2022, Israel continued to compete in the last two years, although international concerns about its attack in Gaza increased.

Abu opened a counseling process with 37 publishers last year after a meeting held by the BBC in London to discuss the differences of opinion about Israel’s participation in 2026.

Normally, publishers have to inform whether EBU will participate until October, but this year was extended until December and late decisions were not allowed to participate.

However, the publishers who started the election process through national song contests in autumn are now under the pressure of decision -making.

Slovenia’s public publisher RTV was the first to announce that RTé and Eurotros in Ireland in the Netherlands last week.

“The publisher is also deeply concerned about the serious erosion of press freedom: the deliberate exclusion of independent international reporting and many losses among journalists, Ev said he said.

Iceland’s public service publisher Rúv said that he was thinking about his position and held his right to withdraw ”.

A few Scandinavian countries began the song with entertainment shows, which are an important part of the TV calendar but also keep the door open to pulling the door.

Johanna Tön-Mangs, Culture and Caseal Content Director in the Finnish public publisher YLE, said: uz The humanitarian situation in Gaza is tragic and we hope to suffer as soon as possible.

“For this reason, Abu is aware of the public debate in Finland. In YLE, we have received weekly feedback on this issue, which supports Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, and we continue to receive.”

RTL in Luxembourg, the main shareholder of the German media group Bertelsmann, said to Guardian next year that the rules of behavior of the competition are Eurovision’s “non -political, international entertainment activity”. ART in Germany said he had participated in the consultation process initiated by Abu.

Martin Green, the director of the song contest, said: uz We understand the concerns about the ongoing clashes in the Middle East and we organize in -depth opinions. We consult with all EBU members to discuss how we manage and want to participate in the competition.

Israel’s national public service publisher Kan, threatened by privatization by Benjamin Netanyahu The accusations are very leftistHe already decided that he wanted to join.