Spain to withdraw Eurovision Song Contest in protest against Israel

Spain has announced its plans to withdraw from Eurovision Song Contest 2026 if Israel is allowed to participate .

With this announcement, Spain has become the latest country to join the team of other countries including Slovenia, Netherlands, Iceland, and Ireland that recently boycotted the Eurovision upon Israel’s participation.

Spain’s state broadcaster RTVE’s board voted in the favor of quitting from the competition in the case of Israel’s entry.

In the voting, 10 votes were in the favour with 4 against it and one member abstained.

The decision makes Spain the first of the “big five” Eurovision countries to take such action against Israel’s brutal aggression in Gaza.

Besides France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, Spain is also responsible for the largest financial contributions to the highly-anticipated event.

RTVE issued a statement: “In July, RTVE asked the EBU [the European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision] for a serious and deep debate to be entered into over Israel’s participation in the next Eurovision festival. Other countries backed Spain’s request.”

The highly-awaited Eurovision song contest is scheduled for May 2026 in Vienna. It is one of the world’s biggest TV events, garnering more than 160 million viewers.