The countries sitting out this year’s 70th anniversary contest (Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland) say their decision is due to Israel’s war in Gaza — which was sparked by a violent attack on Israel by Hamas militants — and the resulting humanitarian crisis it has triggered.
De Tender said the EBU is “engaging with” and “listening to” those countries to try to get them “back on board next year.” But he said in the end the public broadcasters in those countries need to listen to their audiences and make their own decisions about participation.
Those calling for Israel’s exclusion from the song contest point to the fact that Russia was banned from the contest in 2022, just after it invaded Ukraine.
In a statement on X on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said there “cannot be double standards” when it comes to Russia and Israel’s participation in the song contest.
“This year we will not be at Eurovision, but we will do so with the conviction of being on the right side of history. For consistency, responsibility, and humanity,” he said. “In the face of illegal war and also genocide, silence is not an option,” he added.
De Tender told POLITICO in Friday’s interview that the difference between Russia and Israel is that Russia’s public broadcaster is not considered to be independent from the government, which is why its EBU membership was suspended, and it cannot compete in Eurovision.