MADRID: Spain will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel takes part, public broadcaster RTVE, which is charged with selecting the country’s entry for the event, said Tuesday.
While other European nations have threatened to pull out of the contest, Spain is the first of the so-called “big five” nations which provide the most funding for the event to do so.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of Eurovision, is set to decide whether Israel will take part in the 2026 edition at its general assembly in December.
If EBU members decide to keep Israeli public broadcaster KAN as a participant, “RTVE would have to carry out the threat of withdrawing from the contest for the first time in history,” the Spanish broadcaster said in a statement.
The decision comes a day after Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun said Spain should boycott the event if Israel takes part due to its devastating military offensive in Gaza.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in May after the last edition of Eurovision that Israel should be excluded because of its military campaign in Gaza, just as Russia has been left out since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“What we cannot allow is double standards in culture,” he said at the time.
Sanchez on Monday called for Israel to be barred from international sport over the Gaza war after pro-Palestinian protesters in Madrid forced one of the biggest cycling races to be abandoned, the Vuelta a Espana, over the weekend.
Demonstrators denounced the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team in one of the top three races in the international cycling calendar.
Eurovision is the world’s largest live televised music event. This year’s edition in Basel drew in 166 million viewers across 37 countries.
Austrian singer JJ won that competition, securing Vienna the right to host the 2026 edition.
Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands have also threatened not to take part in next year’s event if Israel does.
Five countries — Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain — that make the biggest financial contributions to the EBU get an automatic qualification for the Eurovision final.
The EBU said in July it was launching a consultation with all members of the organization over the issue of Israel’s participation.
It said it would discuss “how we manage participation, geopolitical tensions, and how other organizations have approached similar challenges.”
Pro-Palestinian activists protested in Malmo, Sweden in 2024 and in Basel, Switzerland in May over Israel’s participation in the contest.
Spain will boycott Eurovision if Israel takes part: public TV
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Spain will boycott Eurovision if Israel takes part: public TV
- While other European nations have threatened to pull out of the contest, Spain is the first of the so-called “big five” nations which provide the most funding for the event to do so
- The decision comes a day after Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun said Spain should boycott the event if Israel takes part due to its devastating military offensive in Gaza
Zelensky says Ukrainian air force needs to improve as Russian drone barrages take a toll
- Zelensky said Friday he had discussed with his defense minister and the air force commander what new air defense measures Ukraine needs to counter the Russian barrages
- Russia fired 328 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight and in the early morning
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday described the performance of the air force in parts of the country as “unsatisfactory,” and said that steps are being taken to improve the response to large-scale Russian drone barrages of civilian areas.
The repeated Russian aerial assaults have in recent months focused on Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts and disrupting the heating and water supply for families during a bitterly cold winter.
With the war about to enter its fifth year later this month following Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor, there is no sign of a breakthrough in US-led peace efforts following the latest talks this week.
Further US-brokered meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are planned “in the near future, likely in the United States,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said Friday he had discussed with his defense minister and the air force commander what new air defense measures Ukraine needs to counter the Russian barrages. He didn’t elaborate on what would be done.
Russia fired 328 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight and in the early morning, the air force said, claiming that air defenses shot down 297 drones.
One person was killed and two others were injured in an overnight Russian attack using drones and powerful glide bombs on the central Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha.
A Russian aerial attack on the southern Zaporizhzhia region during early daylight hours injured eight people and damaged 18 apartment blocks, according to regional military administration head Ivan Fedorov.
A dog shelter in the regional capital was also struck, killing 13 dogs, Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Rehina Kharchenko said.
Some dogs were rushed to a veterinary clinic, but they could not be saved, she said. Seven other animals were injured and are receiving treatment.
Amid icy conditions in Kyiv, more than 1,200 residential buildings in multiple districts of the capital have had no heating for days due to the Russian bombardment of the power grid, according to Zelensky.
The UK defense ministry said Friday that Ukraine’s electricity network “is experiencing its most acute crisis of the winter.”
Mykola Tromza, an 81-year-old pensioner in Kyiv, said he has had his power restored, but recently went without heating and water at home for a week.
“I touched my nose and by God, it was like an icicle,” Tromza said. He said he ran up and down to keep warm.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 38 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 26 over the Bryansk region.
Bryansk Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said the attack briefly cut power to several villages in the region.
Another Ukrainian nighttime strike damaged power facilities in the Russian city of Belgorod, disrupting electricity distribution, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Local reports said that Ukrainian missiles hit a power plant and an electrical substation, cutting power to parts of the city.
Fierce fighting has also continued on the front line despite the frigid temperatures.
Ukraine’s Commander in Chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the front line now measures about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) in length along eastern and southern parts of Ukraine.
The increasing technological improvements to drones on both sides mean that the so-called “kill zone” where troops are in greatest danger is now up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep, he told reporters on Thursday in comments embargoed until Friday.
