23/5/2025
Madrid- The announcement of the victory of the Austrian singer Jay Jay with his song “A Hemaneful Love” in the first place in the European “Eurovision” singing competition, beating Israeli singer Yoval Rafael, whose song “New Day will Right” in second place, to be a difficult moment for the Spanish audience.
The final result of the competition was not in its 69th edition, which could be overcome for the Spaniards; Although the competition ended last Saturday evening, the resonance of the final result is still strongly present in Spanish public opinion and social media.
The Spaniards believe that the matter is not related to the result as much as it is related to the public vote system who skeptical after its amendment and see that it allowed Israel to advance to this level.
Despite her distinguished performance in the competition, the Spanish audience was shocked by the actress of his country, the singer Melody, with her song, “The Famous Star”, on the 24th place out of 26 participating countries, as she got 27 points from the jury and only 10 points from the audience’s vote, i.e. with a total of 37 points.
But the Spanish public protest was not On the result of their country Only, but when comparing that result with what the Israeli Rafael, who achieved first place in the public vote, got 297 points, while it got only 60 points from the jury, which put it in the second place in the final result with a total of 357 points.
Frente a los derechos Humanos, El Silencio no Es Una Opción. Paz y justicia para palestina. pic.twitter.com/nqisbql6c
– RTVE (@rtve) May 17, 2025
“Silence is not an option”
A wide segment of the Spaniards believes that what happened in the competition cannot be separated from the controversy that was previously raised about Israel’s participation despite its genocide in its war on the Gaza Strip, and strengthened this with the suspension of Spanish official television during the review of the participation of countries, as he mentioned that Israel has so far killed more than 50 thousand people, in conjunction with the talk about the Israeli singer.
Despite the threat of the European Broadcasting Union supervising the organization of the competition to impose a fine on Spanish television in the event of its repeated talk about Gaza during the presentation of the competition, the Spanish official channel presented a brief statement in Spanish and English before the start of the official broadcast of the final ceremony, saying “When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and justice to Palestine.”
In turn, the journalist Olga Rodriguez, who specializes in Middle East issues, considered in her interview with Al -Jazeera Net that the position of official television was “appreciated, necessary, and welcome, but it was possible to do much more,” stressing that this represents the minimum.
Rodriguez stated that this is the second year in a row in which Spain decides to participate in the competition “without linking its participation to any condition, such as the expelling of Israel, or by a ceasefire in Gaza, or by entering humanitarian aid, or by ending the siege,” considering that the appropriate response to the genocide is required that there be a comprehensive boycott of Israel from Spain and Europe, and to succeed in expelling it from the competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyafmxe5t_E
On the other hand, the description of “double standards” was what Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez mentioned in his comment on what happened in the competition, stressing that “Spain’s commitment to international law and human rights should be continuous, which must be applied to Europe as well.”
“No one was shocked when Russia was excluded 3 years before participating in international competitions, such as the Eurovision competition that we were watching at this weekend, which should also happen with Israel, because we should not allow double standards even on cultural occasions,” Sanchez said in his speech.
He concluded his speech by saying, “From here and in any case, we are greeting a salutation with the Ukrainian and Palestinian people, who are still suffering from the absurdity of war and bombing.”
Spanish Prime Minister: Why did you exclude? #Russia And you left Israel?! .. We cannot allow double standards
– Al -Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) May 20, 2025
minimum
Despite the impressive result that Spain obtained, the arrows of popular criticism did not tend to perform the actress of their country, which they considered distinctive, but the conversation in the local media and social media increased about the refusal to “normalize Israel’s participation in the competition”, demanding that it be excluded from the competition.
Journalist Olga Rodriguez, who specializes in Middle East issues, confirms that an event such as “Eurovision” is important for Israel, which focuses on enhancing the level of huge propaganda and superior care in its general form, and Rodriguez does not rule out that a lot of money has been pumped by Israeli supporters and work in a systematic manner to motivate people to vote more, and to obtain this result.
Rodriguez describes the “Eurovision” competition for this year as it was a “mirror in which the image of Europe was clearly reflected, and some people, including individuals within some governments, pushed themselves to see themselves for the first time.”
In her interview with Al -Jazeera Net, she adds that what happened was “a very blatant and sad thing, because at a time when Israel was continuing to kill civilians and children in Gaza, she was an Israeli actress who sings at the Eurovision Theater, under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union,” noting that this is done for the second year in a row, after 19 months since the start of the genocide in Gaza, and after decades of illegal occupation, racist separation, and displacement Forced, and many previous massacres.
In its comparison between the situation in Europe in general and the privacy of Spain, Rodriguez states that “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by Israel have been normalized with it, to the extent that there are many people in Europe defending – in a way that is required – what they call Israel’s right to defend itself.”
But on the other hand, it considers that “the Spanish people are among the most understanding people of European countries to the importance of defending the right of the Palestinian people to determine their fate, condemn the crimes committed by Israel, and the illegal occupation that imposes it.”
This attributes this to Spain’s private history, and the presence of a large Palestinian community in it, and because it is a Mediterranean state, and because it shares with the Arab world in culture, and because there are many social organizations that have worked for many years to raise awareness of human rights issues and explain the Palestinian issue in all its dimensions.
