Spanish public broadcaster RTVE on Saturday broadcast a message demanding peace and justice for Palestine as the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 opened, having announced its withdrawal from the competition in protest at Israel’s participation amid the Gaza war.

Protest message

As the contest commenced, RTVE briefly blacked out its screen to display a bilingual statement in Spanish and English declaring that “Eurovision is a competition, but human rights are not,” while calling for peace and justice for Palestine. The state broadcaster, which declined to transmit the event live, reinforced the message across its social media platforms ahead of the final. RTVE said it released the statement to protest the European Broadcasting Union’s decision not to exclude Israel from the competition.

Boycott decision

RTVE announced earlier this year that it would not participate in the 2026 contest to protest the European Broadcasting Union’s refusal to exclude Israel amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. The public broadcaster said it could not justify taking part while the humanitarian crisis continues, noting that the EBU had declined to suspend Israeli membership despite repeated appeals. The boycott included refusing to air the contest live, with RTVE instead using the broadcast window to highlight its stance on Palestine.

Previous action

The 2026 demonstration follows a similar action during Eurovision 2025, when RTVE displayed a message stating that silence is not an option when human rights are at stake. That broadcast also demanded peace and justice for Palestine, establishing a pattern of using the Eurovision platform to challenge Israel’s inclusion. The repeated interventions highlight the broadcaster’s continued opposition to the EBU’s handling of the Israel-Palestine issue within the song contest framework.