Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia are boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest and will not broadcast the event due to Israel's participation.

The flags of the Eurovision Song Contest flutter in front of the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, the venue for the 70th edition of the contest, which begins on Tuesday amid a boycott by five countries due to Israel's participation. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters) Public broadcasters in Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia announced on Monday that they will not broadcast the 70th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest this week, as a sign of boycott of this major television event due to Israel's participation. These three countries, along with the Netherlands and Iceland, have withdrawn from this year's event in Vienna, which begins on Tuesday and culminates in the grand final on Saturday. The controversy has been growing over the way Israel is conducting the war in the Gaza Strip. There have been suspicions that the televoting system was manipulated to favor Israel in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Basel (Switzerland). Some broadcasters have also expressed concern about freedom of the press, as Israel is preventing journalists from accessing Gaza. "Instead of the Eurovision circus, national television programming will be marked by the thematic series 'Voices of Palestine'," said the Slovenian broadcaster RTV. During the second semi-final on Thursday, RTE in Ireland will broadcast "The End of the World with Beanz," in which the 1993 Eurovision winner, Niamh Kavanagh, will experience life as a reindeer herder in Norway. And during the final, it will broadcast an episode dedicated to Eurovision from the popular Irish comedy of the 1990s, "Father Ted." The Spanish broadcaster RTVE will broadcast its own musical special, "La Casa de la Música." The public broadcasters in the Netherlands and Iceland will broadcast the contest, despite the fact that both countries have withdrawn. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the Austrian capital is doing everything it can to host the world's largest live televised music event. Only 35 countries will participate in the program—the lowest number since participation was expanded in 2004—following the five withdrawals. Celebrated for the first time in 1956, Eurovision is organized by the European Broadcasting Union, the world's largest alliance of public service media. Amnesty International stated that the fact that the EBU has not suspended Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was "an act of cowardice and a blatant double standard." An investigation supported by the UN determined in September that "a genocide is being committed in Gaza," something that Israel vehemently denies.