Spanish Prime Minister Angry That Israeli Was Allowed to Enter Eurovision Contest

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain is an angry man. He is angry that Yuval Raphael, an Israeli girl, was allowed to enter the Eurovision Contest. Raphael, many will remember, is the Israeli girl who on October 7, 2023 survived by laying absolutely still for eight hours under the dead bodies of her friends. When she emerged, and regained her mental and emotional composure, she entered a nationwide contest to choose the singer who would represent Israel at the Eurovision Contest. And having won in that competition, she proceeded to Basel, where, defying expectations (except that which appeared at Jihad Watch, where we predicted she would either win or come very close to winning), she came in second overall to the singer from Austria. She was also far ahead in the popular vote. A triumph for Yuval Raphael and for the embattled, calumniated, brave old-new (Altneuland) little country she represented.

More on Pedro Sanchez and Eurovision can be found here: “Spanish PM claims Israel’s Eurovision participation shows EBU’s double standard,” Jerusalem Post, May 19, 2025:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez argued on Monday that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has applied a “double standard” by allowing Israel to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest while excluding Russia in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.

There was no double standard. The cases of Russia and Israel are incommensurable. Russia, unprovoked, sent hundreds of thousands of troops to invade an inoffensive Ukraine. Putin was determined to seize and keep much of Ukraine’s territory, though Ukraine had posed not the slightest threat to Russia. Israel entered Gaza, in a war it did not want and did not start, only in order to end the threat to its citizens from Hamas, after that terror group had committed a series of atrocities on October 7, 2023, when 6,000 Hamas members smashed into Israel, and at both the music festival and at ten kibbutzim, proceeded to rape, torture, mutilate, and murder 1,200 Israelis and kidnap 251 more, who were brought back to Gaza. Pedro Sanchez may consider Russia’s unprovoked aggression and Israel’s response to unprovoked aggression to be equivalent — but all sensible people know otherwise.

Sanchez’s calls to disqualify Israel from Eurovision were out of the need to “show solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Goodness, so every time an Israeli is allowed to enter any international contest, or is eligible to be considered for an international prize, that calls for signaling “solidarity with the Palestinian people,” lest they feel slighted. Think of how demoralizing it must be for the Palestinians when an Israeli wins a Nobel Prize, and far too many Israelis have managed to do so. The morale of the Palestinians suffers, and that is on top of the “genocide” that the pedro-sanchezes of this world claim the Palestinians are enduring. But there’s an easy solution: prohibit any Israeli, in any field, from being considered for a Nobel Prize. What a splendid way to express solidarity with the Palestinians. And who — other than those war criminals in Israel — could object?

On Sunday, it was reported that the Spanish Broadcasting Authority (RTVE) intends to appeal to EBU demanding a reassessment of the audience voting system used in Eurovision.

RTVE claimed that there should be a discussion about the suitability of the current system “in the context of armed conflicts such as the one in Gaza, and cases where such conflicts directly affect the results.”

According to Spanish reports, RTVE is one of several broadcasters calling for this reassessment, and other broadcasters from different countries are expected to join the demand.

This came after Israel’s contestant, Yuval Raphael, received 297 points from the public votes, including 12 points from 13 different countries. Current voting rules allow each viewer to vote up to 20 times from each device or credit card.

“We believe that the voting system must be examined thoroughly in light of recent events,” said a source at RTVE. “The goal is to ensure the competition remains fair and truly reflects the musical taste of the audience, without political influences.”

that the voting system must be examined thoroughly in light of recent events,” said a source at RTVE. “The goal is to ensure the competition remains fair and truly reflects the musical taste of the audience, without political influences.”

In fact the Spanish RTVE wants a “reassessment” only because the Israeli girl won, and that is intolerable. In fact, she was far ahead in the popular vote. It was the votes of the national judges, reflecting the policies of their governments, that caused Raphael to end up in second place. There were political considerations in play, but they went against, rather than for, Yuval Raphael.

EBU has not yet officially responded to RTVE’s demand, but sources within EBU said that “any proposal from a member broadcaster is taken seriously, and the issue will be discussed in upcoming meetings of the management committee.

In a break from EBU protocol, RTVE aired a message about Palestine ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday evening….

Just to make sure, if anyone had the slightest doubt, the Spanish television network RTVE wanted to let the world know that it was firmly on the side of “Palestine,” which apparently meant it had to try to block an Israeli girl from taking part in a singing competition, or if she was allowed to participate, to make hostile remarks to undermine her performance. This is 24/7 hatred of the Jewish state, which must be thwarted, the Spanish apparently believe, from taking part in any international competition until it agrees that “from the river to the sea/Palestine will be free,” which, rightly understood, means the disappearance of Israel and its replacement by a 23rd Arab state.

Comments made by Julia Varela and Tony Aguilar [on RTVE] during the second semifinal included, “The victims of the Israeli attacks in Gaza now exceed 50,000, including more than 15,000 children, according to the United Nations.”

That figure of15,000 children killed in Gaza cannot possibly be correct. Here is why: of the 53,000 total deaths in Gaza, 22,000 were members of Hamas. Another 16,000 Gazans have died from accidents and diseases calculated as follows: historically, 800 Gazans have died each month from those non-combat-related causes; over 20 months, then, a total of 16,000 have done so.

It would not surprise me if those who administer the Eurovision Contest ended up sanctioning the Spanish RTVE for the anti-Israel comments that its announcers made both during the semifinal round and just before the final round, which no doubt were meant to influence its audience to vote against the Israeli singer. Perhaps next year, Eurovision will ban Spain from entering a contestant, a fitting response to the Spanish broadcaster having this year injected a series of anti-Israel remarks having nothing to do with singing in its coverage of the competition. That would be a well-deserved outcome.