Spain threatens to withdraw from 2026 Eurovision if Israel participates

“I don’t think we can normalise Israel’s participation in international events as if nothing is happening.”

These were the words spoken by Ernest Urtasun, the Spanish Minister for Culture, who has stated that Spain should withdraw from Eurovision 2026 if Israel is not excluded from the contest.

During an interview on La hora de La 1 on TVE, Urtasun said that Israel’s participation in the contest cannot be tolerated.

“Events like Eurovision or the Vuelta a España (the annual multi-stage road cycling race) bring a certain representation of a country,” he said, referring to protests against the cycling team Israel-Premier Tech during the current edition of the race.

He continued: “In Eurovision’s case, it is not an individual artist who participates but someone who participates on behalf of that country’s citizens.”

Urtasun said that if Israel participated in 2026 “and we fail to expel it, measures will have to be taken” - as cited by the Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia - and reminded viewers that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez previously called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest, to ban Israel from the international competition.

Indeed, we reported in May that Sánchez called on the EBU to exclude Israel, saying that "no one was shaking their heads" when Russia was banned from international competitions and Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine. He called for the same ban to be applied to Israel over the Gaza war.

Urtasun specified that it is not antisemitic to denounce the “genocide” taking place in Gaza and described Israel as a “genocidal government.”

He also clarified that the decision to withdraw from Eurovision will ultimately be up to RTVE (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation), which has already raised concerns over Israel’s participation in Eurovision following last year’s contest.

These comments and growing public protests show quite to what extent Eurovision is facing a sizeable crisis. It has been caught up in political tensions over Israel’s participation for two years now, and the director of Slovenia’s national broadcaster, RTVSLO, has already announced that it will likely withdraw from the contest next year if Israel participates.

Indeed, Ksenija Horvat recently said that RTVE had reached out to EBU several times with concerns regarding Israel’s participation in next year’s competition.

RTVSLO called for the expulsion of Israel from Eurovision 2025, joining more than 70 former Eurovision contestants signing an open letter demanding Israel and its national broadcaster KAN be banned from the contest.

The winner of last year’s Eurovision, Austrian singer JJ, has said that he too wants Israel to be banned from the Eurovision 2026.

The EBU has extended its penalty-free withdrawal deadline to December, when a final decision on Israel’s participation is expected at the General Assembly.