Spanish broadcaster RTVE ignored the ban imposed by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Before the final, they presented a statement on a black screen, written in white text in both Spanish and English.
“When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine,” read the message. This statement was visible for a total of 16 seconds. The broadcast on RTVE was also shared on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The message displayed was not the only incident related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, however. There was an attempted paint attack on Israeli singer Yuval Raphael. Reportedly, three people from the audience smuggled red paint bags into the arena. Two of these people climbed over a barrier but did not reach the stage.
The scores awarded to Israel by the Spanish and German audiences are all the more surprising, as both awarded Israel 12 points each.
The public broadcaster has taken a clear offensive stance against Israel’s participation in the contest, thus questioning the voting system.
As RTVE itself announced in the news on Sunday afternoon, the company has asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of Eurovision, to launch an audit on Monday to determine whether the televoting system “is the most appropriate and whether it is dependent on war conflicts.”
According to RTVE, “several countries will also submit the same request, as they believe that televoting is affected by the armed conflicts currently taking place.”
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