Broadcaster's protest continues over Israeli Eurovision entry

Spain ending up third from the bottom at Eurovision 2025 came as a bitter pill to swallow for Spanish fans of the song contest. Not even the worst forecasts predicted that Melody's rendition of Esa Diva would rank 24th of the 26 participating countries, ahead only of Iceland and San Marino.

Meanwhile, Spain's opposition to Israel's participation in Eurovision did not end with the contest. Along with some other European countries, Spain's government-funded RTVE plans to ask the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to re-assess the power of the public vote in determining "which country wins the contest".

During the Eurovision final, Israeli representative Yuval Raphael obtained the highest audience score (297), despite receiving only 60 points from the jury. As a result, Israel came second, after Austria.

RTVE's protest started a while before the contest. The broadcaster had expressed its opposition to the Israeli candidate's participation, citing Israel's atrocities in Gaza. The resistance culminated with a statement broadcast on screen before the final: "Peace and justice" for Palestine it read.

Despite RTVE's opposition, the Spanish public voted overwhelmingly for Yuval. As a result, Israeli minister Amichai Chikli took to social media to address Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, stating that "Spaniards have spoken". According to Chikli, Spain's vote for Israel is proof that the Mediterranean country supports them despite Sánchez's opinion.