During the second Semi-Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, Spanish commentators Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela made comments during the Israeli performance about the war in Palestine. The commentators mentioned the high death toll and the two questioned if Israel should be allowed to participate in the contest. The pair made no disrespectful comments or criticisms of Israel's representative, Yuval Raphael, during this discussion.
After a complaint was made by the Israeli delegation, the EBU threatened Spanish broadcaster RTVE with possible fines if similar comments were made at the Grand Final. Aguilar and Varela did not make any comments during the Grand Final about Israel, and instead simply introduced the performance. However, before Eurovision was broadcast on RTVE, a message was shown to viewers in both Spanish and English that read:
"In the face of human rights, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine."
As of writing, RTVE has not received any complaints or sanctions from the EBU over this statement.
Moreover, Telediario de La 1 and RTVE have drawn into question the current televoting system and have asked to discuss with the EBU if wartime conflicts effect the system. RTVE has also requested an audit of how the Spanish televote was distributed to each nation.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has also called for Israel to be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest saying:
"Spain’s commitment to human rights must be constant and consistent, including in Europe.
"If Russia was required not to participate in Eurovision after the invasion of Ukraine, neither should Israel. We cannot allow double standards, not even in culture."
Sánchez has been very vocal about Spain's support of Palestine.
"RTVE pide a Eurovisión abrir un debate sobre el televoto y «si los conflictos bélicos lo condicionan»," abc.es.
"Prime Minister of Spain calls for Eurovision to ban Israel to end ‘double standard’," metro.co.uk.
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