“May war not be indifferent to me.” It is the text that Pedro Sánchez uploaded to his social networks during the celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest, in whose last edition Spain has not participated, along with the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia, as a protest against Israel.
The phrase is the start of the song I only ask Godwork of the Argentine León Gieco but popularized in Spain by Ana Belén. The tweet was accompanied by the singer’s interpretation of the song during the program. The house of musica space issued to replace the international festival.
The program, which reached only 9.2% of the night’s audience (behind ‘La Voz Kids’, which obtained 12.6% and the film “Jungle Cruise” on Cuatro, which achieved 10%), was presented by Jesús Vázquez and featured performances by Raphael, Fangoria and the aforementioned Ana Belénwhose performance was shared by the President of the Government.
Message on RTVE
Just before the start of the festival, RTVE published a sign in Spanish and English for 20 seconds, supporting Palestine. “The Eurovision Song Contest is a contest, but human rights are not. There is no room for indifference. Peace and Justice for Palestine”stated the message on Spanish public television broadcast this Saturday on La 1 at 9:00 p.m.
Israel, however, was one of the winning countries in the international competition, coming second behind the surprising winner, Bulgaria. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katzpublished a tweet after the event congratulating Noam Bettan, representative of his country, and directly mentioning Pedro Sánchez.
“On behalf of the defense system and the IDF soldiers, I congratulate Noam Betan for his enormous achievement in taking second place in Eurovision, in the face of the incitement and smear campaign by and his allies. You acted as a hero, brought honor and pride to the State of Israel, and brought joy to the IDF soldiers fighting for its safety, as well as to all the citizens of Israel. The people of Israel live!”
The exchange of messages on social networks is nothing more than the latest of the clashes between Pedro Sánchez and the Israeli executive. The Spanish president had already warmed up the preview of the festival on his social networks, uploading a tweet in which he explained the reasons for the Spanish absence in the 2026 edition of Eurovision.
“This year is going to be different. Months ago, as you know, the RTVE Public Corporation made a decision that I think it is coherent and also necessary, and it means standing up to injustice. “For this reason, Spain does not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, because our commitment to human rights and international legality is also expressed through culture.”
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