Israel has many friends, Pedro Sánchez’s Spain very few

Anyone who still believes that the Eurovision Song Contest is a music festival where songs from different countries compete to determine the best one is either naive or ignorant. In this festival, the quality of the song is barely considered, the extravagance of the performance carries a bit more weight, but what truly earns points for a top spot is the good relations each country has with the other participants.
 
This year’s Eurovision was no exception and left us with a clear lesson: Israel enjoys the sympathy of most countries, while Pedro Sánchez’s Spain has earned the antipathy of nearly all. It’s no surprise, then, that Spain finished third from last (24th out of 26 participants), only surpassing modest Iceland, which always does its own thing, and tiny San Marino. In contrast, this year’s winner was Austria, with Israel taking a strong second place. By the way, Ukraine also enjoys widespread sympathy, as reflected by its respectable ninth-place finish.
 
But what happened with Spain this year to perform so poorly? The blame doesn’t lie with the performer, Melody, nor with her mediocre song, nor with her staging (just another in the crowd). The blame falls squarely on Pedro Sánchez and his government, determined to politicize everything, including this festival.
 
During the semifinals, RTVE commentators criticized Israel over its military conflict with Palestine and even called on the organizers to stop inviting Israel to participate. The festival organization issued a reprimand, threatened sanctions for violating the event’s rules, and told them to refrain from political comments. Far from staying silent, RTVE presenters, when Israel’s turn came, displayed an on-screen message stating, “In the face of human rights, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.” (Curiously, the state broadcaster, RTVE, has never criticized the crimes and atrocities committed by Palestine, meaning that for Pedro Sánchez’s government, silence is an option—one used hypocritically and selectively.)
 
Well, there’s a Spanish saying (how wise popular culture is!) that goes: “Don’t want broth? Here, have two bowls!” Translated into Eurovision terms, it means: “Don’t like Israel? Well, now we’ll give Israel more votes than it deserves, and we won’t vote for you, so you’ll sink to the bottom of the leaderboard! For being foolish and dragging politics into this!” And so it was: Israel finished second, and Spain languished in third-to-last place.
 
The president of the Community of Madrid (who never holds back against the excesses of Pedro Sánchez’s “dictatorship”) stated: “RTVE, in this gala, is by far the most hijacked by the shameful politicization of everything public under his government. A symptom of weakness and decline.” She added, regarding the hypocrisy of this government: “We’d love to see those pulling stunts at Eurovision about Israel say something about terrorism or the execution or imprisonment of homosexuals in Muslim countries.”
 

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“Fleeing into silence”: https://a.co/d/7SUfVb3