Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has accused the organizers of the international Eurovision Song Contest of a policy of "double standards". In his opinion, Israel should be barred from participating in the competition because of military operations in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
Recalling that Russia has been suspended from Eurovision since 2022, he added that then "no one was furious" because of this.
"Therefore, Israel should not do this either, because we cannot allow double standards in culture," Sanchez is sure.
Following the results of the final of the contest, which took place on Saturday, May 17, the representative of Israel Yuval Rafael with the song New Day Will Rise took second place. Moreover, Israel was the leader of the audience vote, and the Spaniards gave the Israeli singer the maximum 12 points along with 12 other countries. The Spanish broadcasting network RTVE, after the prime minister's words, requested an audit of votes.
The Minister of Diaspora Affairs of Israel, Amihai Shikli, responded to Sanchez's words. He wrote on social media that the vote was a "slap in the face" to the Spanish prime minister, "which we heard here in Jerusalem."
As reported by EADaily, the winner of the 69th International Song Contest "Eurovision-2025" according to the results of the audience voting was the representative of Austria with the creative name JJ (Johannes Pitch). He performed the song Wasted Love.
According to the results of voting by the jury and the audience, he scored 436 points. The jury's votes were counted based on the results of the rehearsal on Friday, May 16, which was not broadcast. The final of the contest was watched by about 160 million people.