During the second semi-final of Eurovision 2025, RTVE commentators Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela discussed the need to open a debate about Israel’s presence in the festival. They highlighted that the Gaza invasion by Tel Aviv has resulted in over 50,000 civilian casualties, including nearly 16,000 children. They used the introduction video of Yuval Raphael’s song, the Israeli representative, to clarify the public broadcaster’s stance, one of the few openly advocating for a review of the Middle Eastern country’s participation in the contest.
The Israeli public broadcaster protested, and on Friday, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) threatened RTVE with “punitive fines” if any reference to the situation in Gaza is repeated. “It is essential that your commentators adhere to these rules without exception […] to preserve Eurovision’s apolitical nature and comply with the ethics and standards established in the rules. We expect full cooperation from RTVE to prevent recurrence. Any further breach may result in punitive fines according to the rules,” warned a statement signed by the president of the Eurovision Reference Group, Swiss Bakel Walden, and Swedish Martin Osterdahl, the festival’s executive supervisor.
This is the only way. I know it will not sway my local broadcaster′s view in any major way, but I plan to write to them that we should drop out if Israel will participate in 2026. Perhaps I will not be the only one and will add a drop to the overall bucket.