Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals Thursday from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers
The move to allow Israel to remain in the competition prompted some countries to announce boycotts, with Spanish public broadcaster RTVE announcing Spain’s “withdrawal” from the contest following the EBU decision. Spain is one of the so-called Big Five who make the largest financial contributions to the contest.
Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ confirmed in a statement that it “will not participate in or broadcast” the contest. Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said its decision not to participate followed “a careful process in which information was gathered from a wide range of stakeholders.”
“Avrotros concludes that participation under the current circumstances is incompatible with the public values that are essential to us,” it said.
Natalija Gorščak, president of Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTV SLO, told CNN on Thursday that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is “not a real peace agreement because people are still dying.”
Other countries have supported Israel’s inclusion in the event, including Germany, another of the major contributors.
“Israel belongs in the Eurovision Song Contest,” German Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer previously told Reuters. “There must be no ESC without Israel.”
