Head of Spain's RTVE backs ongoing Eurovision boycott over Israel's participation

Published on 22/09/2026 - 13:26 GMT+2•Updated 13:31 The head of Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE says he supports Spain continuing to boycott this year's Eurovision contest over Israel’s participation. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT RTVE president José Pablo López said it was “deeply painful” that Israel’s public broadcaster remained eligible to compete while the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continued. López said he would ask the board of RTVE to uphold Spain’s departure from Eurovision, with a final decision expected by mid-October. López told a Senate committee on Tuesday that it was "deeply painful" that Israel's public broadcaster would continue to participate in Eurovision "despite everything, and given this situation that is still being experienced in Gaza." Spain’s withdrawal would be more significant as one of Eurovision’s “Big Five”, the group of countries that make the largest financial contributions to the European Broadcasting Union and therefore automatically qualify for the final. The Spanish government has been a vocal supporter of Palestine and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been one of Israel's most virulent critics, labelling its actions in Gaza a genocide. Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Gaza's health ministry has reported more than 73,000 deaths in the last three years of Israel's retaliatory military operation. Additionally, since an October 2025 ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,300 people in the devastated Palestinian territory, according to the Gaza health ministry, whose figures are considered generally reliable by the United Nations. Two countries have already announced boycotts Ireland and the Netherlands have already confirmed they will boycott Eurovision 2027, which is due to be held in Bulgaria. The Irish broadcaster RTÉ said in a statement: "RTÉ feels that Ireland's participation cannot be justified given the ⁠appalling and ongoing loss ⁠of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to ‌put the lives of so many civilians at risk." Eurovision director Martin Green said he "regretted" RTÉ 's stance, but "fully respect their decision." It followed the announcement from Dutch broadcaster AvroTros, who are also boycotting next year's show as it is no longer consistent with "trustworthiness, independence and humanity." Both Ireland and the Netherlands were among the five countries who decided to opt out of the 2026 competition, along with Spain, Iceland and Slovenia.