National broadcasters in Ireland, Spain and Slovenia have announced they will not air this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, in protest over Israel’s participation in the competition, The Guardian reported.
Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTV confirmed Thursday that it will implement a full broadcasting blackout of the event and replace it with a series of films focused on “Palestine".
“We will not be broadcasting the Eurovision song contest," RTV Slovenia director Ksenija Horvat told the Associated Press. “We will be airing the film series Voices of Palestine, featuring Palestinian documentaries and feature films."
Spain’s RTVE also reiterated last week that it will not broadcast Eurovision, marking the first time since Spain joined the contest in 1961 that the show will not air on Spanish television. Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ previously announced in December that it would neither participate in nor broadcast the event.
Israel’s participation in this year’s contest was in question but was made possible after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) cleared it to compete.
This resulted in announcements by Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland that they will not participate in the contest due to Israel’s continued inclusion in the lineup following the war in Gaza.
While the Netherlands and Iceland withdrew participation, they will still air the contest on their national channels, NPO and RÚV.
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest marks the 70th anniversary of the event and will feature 35 participating countries. It is scheduled to take place in Vienna, Austria, from May 12 to 16.
Israel will be represented at the competition by Noam Bettan, 28, who will perform the song “Michelle" in French, Hebrew and English in the annual contest’s first semifinal in Vienna on May 12.
Over the last two years, Israeli performers have been heckled and booed at the event, even as last year’s representative, Yuval Raphael, won the televote by members of the public and finished in second place overall after she came in 14th place in the jury vote.