Spanish PM calls for Israel ban at intl. competitions, Eurovision over Gaza genocide
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for Israel to be excluded from international cultural events such as the Eurovision Song Contest over the regime’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Sanchez made the remarks at a news conference in Madrid on Monday, two days after Israel finished second at the 2025 Eurovision’s grand final in Switzerland.
He said Israel should face the same consequences as that of Russia, which was barred from international competitions following its military operation in Ukraine in 2022, adding that Israel should also be banned “because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture.”
Sanchez also expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, saying they are “experiencing the injustice of war and bombardment.”
Ahead of the Eurovision final, Spain’s broadcast network RTVE posted a video message in support of Palestinians on X, reading, “When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.”
Earlier, pro-Palestinian groups had urged the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of Eurovision, to remove Israel from the competition over the regime’s brutal onslaught on Gaza.
Similarly, dozens of former Eurovision competitors and several of the broadcasters that fund the contest had sought Israel’s exclusion.
Last year, Spain, along with Norway and Ireland, formally recognized a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders with East al-Quds as its capital.
Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out the historic Al-Aqsa Flood operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
More than 19 months into its aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has failed to achieve its declared objectives in Gaza despite killing at least 53,486 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 121,398 others.
