Eurovision song contest dismisses Spain's request to discuss Israeli participation

The European Broadcasting Union indicated on Friday that it would ignore a request by Spain to discuss Israel’s participation in the upcoming Eurovision song contest in May due to the ongoing war against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza.

"We welcome the fact that the Spanish broadcasting authority confirms its commitment to the Eurovision contest and appreciate that there are deep concerns and opinions surrounding the current conflict in the Middle East. All members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are eligible to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest, and we are in constant contact with this year's participants, including RTVE, on all aspects of the contest," the EBU said in an official statement.

The EBU did not explicitly mention Israel in its statement. However, Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, is an official member of the European Broadcasting Union.

The statement from the EBU came in response to Spanish broadcaster RTVE, which had called for a discussion aimed at blocking Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

“RTVE believes it would be appropriate for the EBU to recognize the existence of this debate and facilitate a space for reflection among EBU member broadcasters on the participation of Israeli public television station Kan,” the Spanish broadcaster stated.

In its letter to the EBU, RTVE “acknowledge[d] the concerns raised by various civil society groups in Spain regarding the situation in Gaza and the participation of the public television station Kan in the competition.”

This year’s Eurovision competition will be held in Basel, Switzerland – the same city that hosted the first Zionist Congress led by Theodor Herzl in 1897.

In January 2025, Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova Festival massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, was chosen to represent Israel at Eurovision. While Raphael is a talented singer, she only began her professional singing career after the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas terrorists murdered approximately 350 Israeli civilians and kidnapped around 40 others from a music festival near Re’eim, a rural community close to the Gaza border.

Last year, Israel also faced vocal opposition to its participation in the Eurovision contest, held in Malmö, Sweden. In January 2024, a large number of music artists called for the expulsion of Israel from the Eurovision due to the war in Gaza.

“It is not in accordance with our values that a country that commits war crimes and continues a military occupation is given a public stage to polish its image in the name of music,” the artists claimed in their letter.

Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman blasted the call to boycott Israel, which he described as rewarding the Hamas terrorist organization.

“On 7 October, Israel was brutally attacked by a vicious terrorist organisation that openly calls for its annihilation. Promoting a boycott of Israel is supporting the acts of Hamas, is giving a prize to terrorism and is incompatible with the values of the (Eurovision Broadcasting Union) and of the competition,” Kulman stated at the time.

In April 2024, Israel’s then-Eurovision contestant, Eden Golan, received death threats fueled by anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment. Despite the hostility, Golan remained focused on representing Israel and ultimately defied her critics by securing a respectable fifth-place in the finals with her song "Hurricane," a reworked version of her original song "October Rain."

October Rain was initially submitted but deemed too politically sensitive due to its direct references to the Oct. 7 attacks. While the lyrics were adjusted to comply with Eurovision rules, the emotional core and tribute to the victims of the 2023 terror attack remained central to the performance.