While the self-proclaimed guardians of “neutrality” look the other way when a state is acting in the midst of genocide, Spain is being punished for calling the humanitarian catastrophe by its name. Hypocrisy could hardly be more obvious!
Does anyone remember the outcry when Russia was excluded for its war of aggression against Ukraine? Where is that consequence now? Instead, critical voices are being silenced.
The comments against Israel by Julia Varela and Tony Aguilar, the Eurovision Song Contest spokespersons for RTVE, immediately caused a stir. The EBU has threatened the public broadcaster with fines if commentators again refer to the Gaza War during Saturday’s final.
As the newspaper El País reports, the EBU issued this warning in a letter to Ana María Bordás, the head of the Spanish delegation. The letter was signed by the President of the Eurovision Reference Group, Swiss Bakel Walden, and the Swede Martin Osterdahl, the Contest’s chief supervisor.
During the second semi-final, in which Israel participated, Aguilar and Varela did not introduce their singer Yuval Raphael, but instead made a plea in which they expressed the doubts raised by TVE, the state broadcaster under the Pedro Sánchez government, about Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest and explicitly referred to the war in Gaza.
What Aguilar and Varela did not address, however, were the more than 1,500 Israeli deaths, including women and children, caused by the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and the 59 hostages still in the hands of Palestinian terrorists, half of whom have already been killed.
In fact, Yuval Raphael herself is a victim of these attacks: She was at the Nova Festival, which was targeted by terrorists, and hid for seven hours in an air raid shelter near Kibbutz Be’eri along with 50 other people, where she suffered shrapnel wounds.
According to El País, in the letter, the body reminded the EBU that “all commentators must adhere to the festival’s rules and the Commentators’ Handbook.” These guidelines prohibit political statements that could compromise the neutrality of the competition. Casualty figures have no place in an apolitical entertainment program whose motto, “United by Music,” embodies our commitment to unity.
“It is crucial that your commentators adhere to these rules without exception to preserve the non-political nature of the Eurovision Song Contest and adhere to the ethics and standards set out in the rules. We hope for RTVE’s full cooperation to prevent such incidents from recurring. Any subsequent non-compliance may result in fines in accordance with the regulations,” the letter concludes.
