{"id":299188,"date":"2025-12-04T20:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/299188\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T20:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:16:10","slug":"netherlands-spain-ireland-and-slovenia-boycott-eurovision-after-israel-allowed-to-compete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/299188\/","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia boycott Eurovision after Israel allowed to compete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/core\/website\/assets\/static\/news\/incident-types\/light-mode\/analysis.77b314ef10.svg\" alt=\"Analysis\" draggable=\"false\" class=\"ssrcss-to2z4d-ContributorImageComponent e2hr5uu0\"\/>Eurovision faces severe crisis &#8211; ties that have been cut will be hard to stitch back togetherpublished at 19:49 GMT<\/p>\n<p>19:49 GMT<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-8kvzjk-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/663f41a7-b82c-4c30-83da-7df60f9edcda.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/>Mark Savage<br \/>Music correspondent<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This is the most severe crisis in the history of the Eurovision<br \/>\nSong Contest. Four countries have already pulled out, and more may<br \/>\nfollow. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It\u2019s a situation that\u2019s been brewing for years, amid festering<br \/>\ntension over Israel\u2019s conduct during the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At the 2024 contest in Malmo, Sweden, streets were closed and<br \/>\ncontestants were sequestered in their hotel rooms as protestors took to the<br \/>\nstreets. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This year, in Basel, Switzerland, two audience members tried to storm<br \/>\nthe stage and throw paint over Israel\u2019s entrant, Yuval Raphael.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">As the death toll in Gaza rose, several countries ramped up<br \/>\npressure on the EBU to hold a vote on Israel\u2019s future in the contest. It was<br \/>\nbadly handled. A vote was scheduled, then cancelled after a ceasefire was<br \/>\nannounced in October. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Today in Geneva, Spain led a bloc of eight countries in calling<br \/>\nfor another vote. Organisers denied the request, and instead tied Israel\u2019s<br \/>\nparticipation to a separate vote, regarding new measures to tighten up voting<br \/>\nprocedures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When that motion passed, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the<br \/>\nNetherlands immediately announced a boycott of the 2026 event. The speed at<br \/>\nwhich they issued their press releases suggests they were anticipating the<br \/>\nresult in advance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The rift goes even deeper than concerns over Israel\u2019s human rights<br \/>\nrecord. The president of Spain\u2019s broadcaster, Jos\u00e9 Pablo L\u00f3pez S\u00e1nchez, said he had<br \/>\nlost faith in the contest\u2019s organisers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">On his way into today\u2019s meeting, he posted an angry statement on<br \/>\nsocial media saying, \u201cthis point should never have been reached\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He said the EBU had been swayed by \u201cpolitical and commercial<br \/>\ninterests\u201d and accused it of mismanaging the contest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The ties that have been cut today will be hard to stitch back<br \/>\ntogether.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eurovision faces severe crisis &#8211; ties that have been cut will be hard to stitch back togetherpublished at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-299188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}