Named victims in Gaza, “Eurovision” threatens Spanish broadcaster

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has threatened Spanish broadcaster RIVE fines if commentators of the European song contest repeat statements they have made about fighting in Gaza, as they had done Thursday.

During the semifinals, commentators Julia Varela and Tony Agililar have mentioned war victims and have called for discussion on Israel's participation in <x0 Eurovision”. This led to complaints from Israeli broadcaster KAN to European broadcasters.

“El Pais” has now reported that on Friday the EBU has sent letter to the Spanish delegation for possible penalty.

The two commentators in the semifinals had remembered a call the RTVE had made a month earlier to the EBU to discuss Israel's participation this year. Both had cited the fact that over 50,000 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israel in the Gaza war, of which more than 15 thousand are children, according to data from the United Nations organisation.

As he has announced RTVE officially for “El Pais” commentators had read the message “in co-ordination with the television network”. And according to sources, during the broadcast of the final “will have a response”.

Besides Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland had officially sought reflection on Israel's participation. /Periscopi/