Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez evokes that Israel is being banned

The Spanish Prime Minister has called on Israel to be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest on his military action in Gaza.

Pedro Sánchez Note Russia has been banned from the game since 2022 After the invasion of Ukraine, and said there should be no “double standards”.

Israel became second in the grand finale of the game in Switzerland on Saturday, but was at the top of the public mood – with Spanish viewers who gave Israel the maximum 12 points.

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, Shanchez called ridiculously with a social media post that said that the mood had been a “blow to the face” for the Spanish Prime Minister “, whom we heard here in Jerusalem”.

BBC News has asked Eurovision organizers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for comments.

During a press conference in Madrid, Sánchez said: “Nobody was in weapons when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started three years ago and (Russia) had to leave international competitions and could not participate, as we have just seen, in Eurovision.

“That is why Israel would not have to, because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture.”

He also expressed solidarity with “the people of Palestine who experience the injustice of war and bombing”.

“The dedication of Spain to international law and human rights must be constant and must be coherent,” he said. “Europe should also be.”

Sánchez and his government, who officially recognized a Palestinian state last year, his hard critics of Israel and last week in the congress the prime minister referred to the country as “a genocidal state”.

Israel has strongly denied genocide accusations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the Spanish ambassador for a formal reprimand about the “serious comments” of Sánchez.

At Eurovision, the Spain television saw the Country Award Israel Maximum Points for his song New Day will rise by Yuval Raphael. The broadcast network of Spain RTVE has since asked an audit of the votes.

Prior to the Eurovision final on Saturday, RTVE broadcast a message to support Palestinians – even though he was warned to avoid references to Gaza by the EBU.

The entry of Spain, ESA Diva of Melody, finished in 24th place on Saturday evening in Basel.