Kick Israel out of future Eurovision contests, demands Spanish PM
Pedro Sanchez accuses European Broadcasting Union of 'double standards' after Russia banned from participating over Ukraine invasion
The Eurovision Song Contest should remove Israel to show solidarity with “the people of Palestine who are experiencing the injustice of war and bombardment” the prime minister of Spain has said.
His controversial call, 532 years after a Spanish leader called for the expulsion of Jews, is directly at odds with Pedro Sanchez’s own countrymen, whose televoters gave Israel the maximum of 12 points during Saturday night’s competition.
The PM claims that because Russia didn’t take part in Eurovision following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, “therefore Israel shouldn’t either, because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture.”
Sanchez last week accused Israel of genocide – prompting Israel’s foreign ministry to summon the country’s ambassador for a formal reprimand in Jerusalem.
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