Israel should be excluded from Eurovision - Spanish Prime Minister
Kyiv • UNN
Pedro Sánchez insists on uniform rules for all participating countries, as was done with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. He calls for an end to double standards in culture.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez demands Israel's exclusion from Eurovision due to the war in Gaza, as was done with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, UNN reports, citing El Mundo.
Details
The head of the Spanish government justifies his demand by the fact that the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest should be the same for all countries. Pedro Sánchez demanded that the country no longer participate because of its involvement in the war in Gaza.
"Commitment to human rights must be constant," the President of the Government said at the presentation of the Cotec Foundation's report on the cultural industry.
Sánchez noted that "no one raised their hands" when sanctions were imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, including its exclusion from Eurovision. And he assured that the same should apply to Israel.
"We cannot allow double standards in culture. That is why I believe that those who use culture to defend values that may be under close scrutiny, such as democracy and quality public services, are right, condemns the negative reaction provoked by sexist attacks, demands commitments to the environment or calls for an end to the war, whether in Ukraine or Gaza," the Spanish Prime Minister noted.
Recall
As UNN reported, the Irish public broadcaster RTÉ appealed to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to discuss the issue of including Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest, after 72 former participants demanded that the Israeli broadcaster Kan be banned from participating in the event.
Reference
Israeli singer Yuval Rafael took second place at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. On October 7, 2023, she was among the visitors to the Nova festival in Israel, which was attacked by Hamas. At the time, she managed to escape from the militants who opened fire on the festival participants.
During preparations for her performance at Eurovision 2025, Yuval Rafael had to face pressure from pro-Palestinian activists who demanded that Israel be banned from participating in the competition.
