{"id":450467,"date":"2026-05-15T16:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/450467\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:08:08","slug":"spanish-pm-eurovision-boycott-is-right-side-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/450467\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish PM: Eurovision boycott ‘is right side of history’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has said Spain’s boycott of this year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest over Israel\u2019s participation puts the country “on the right side of history”.<\/p>\n

In a video message posted on X ahead of Saturday\u2019s Grand Final in Vienna, S\u00e1nchez said Spain could not remain silent over the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

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

“And we cannot remain indifferent to what continues to happen in Gaza and in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

“This year, therefore, will indeed be different. We will not be in Vienna, but we will do so with the conviction that we are on the right side of history.”<\/p>\n

Spain is one of five countries not taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest<\/a> over Israel\u2019s participation, alongside Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 is not participating in or broadcasting this year\u2019s contest after the European Broadcasting Union confirmed that Israeli broadcaster Kan would be allowed to compete.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued in December, RT\u00c9 said Ireland\u2019s participation remained “unconscionable” given the loss of life and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster also cited concern over the killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denial of access to international journalists.<\/p>\n

Spain is one of Eurovision\u2019s so-called “Big Five” countries, the largest financial contributors to the contest, whose entries usually qualify automatically for the Grand Final.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez drew a comparison between Israel\u2019s participation and Russia\u2019s exclusion from Eurovision following its invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

“When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was excluded from the contest and Spain supported that decision,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Those principles must also be applied when we talk about Israel. There cannot be double standards.”<\/p>\n

The European Broadcasting Union has said Israeli public broadcaster KAN is eligible to participate because it is a member of the organisation.<\/p>\n

Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green told RT\u00c9 Arts and Media Correspondent Evelyn O’Rourke<\/a> this week that the EBU\u2019s position was that KAN was not responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.<\/p>\n

The 70th Eurovision Song Contest is being staged at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, with the Grand Final taking place on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Source: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has said Spain’s boycott of this year\u2019s Eurovision Song Contest over Israel\u2019s participation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-450467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}