Belgium in Eurovision Israel boycott U-turn as Spain risks huge fine in final

Belgium's broadcaster VRT appeared to make a U-turn during Saturday evening's final after their choice to air an anti-Israel, pro-Palestine VT during the semi-finals.

It comes after by displaying a statement ahead before the show, showing a black screen with white text in both Spanish and an English translation about "justice for Palestine".

Prior to the final, the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) had warned Spain's broadcaster RTVE of “punitive fines” if their commentators repeated references of the Gaza conflict, as they had done during the semi-final on Thursday.

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It had been that VRT may ignore the warning and show a black screen during the performance of singer Yuval Raphael, who survived the 7 October 2023 attacks. However, the broadcaster ultimately decided to air the performance and their semi-final message condemning Israel appeared to have not stopped the Belgian public from voting in favour of Israel.

In fact, the Belgian public opted to gift the top 12 points to Israel, followed by 10 to Poland and eight to France.

The message shown during the first semi-final had read, translated from Dutch: "This is industrial action. We condemn the violations of human rights by the State of . Furthermore, the State of Israel is destroying freedom of the press. That's why we interrupt the picture for a moment. #CeasefireNow #StopGenocide."

Spain, however, ignored the warning from the EBU with their message reading: "When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and Justice for ." The statement stayed on screen for 16 seconds.

The broadcast on RTVE, the equivalent in the country, was also posted on /X. And the message quickly gained traction by social media users too.

There was controversy from the off after pro-Palestine protestors rallied to object to Israel's inclusion in the competition. And there was more chaos following Israel's performance.

The country's contestant was met with a mixed response from the audience. As Israel's hopeful Yuval Raphael thanked viewers following her performance, UK commentator Graham Norton couldn't help but aim a jibe at Switzerland and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Comedian Graham told UK viewers: "I'm not sure what you're hearing at home, but it was a mixed response." His blunt response came after the Eurovision Song Contest had been criticised after it reportedly covered the sounds of the audience booing the controversial entrant and adding fake applause.

Reports suggested the competition's bosses chose to drown out the sounds of booing from the arena. It came after her performance of New Day Will Rise during the rehearsal on Friday night.

They released a statement regarding the crowd noise. It read: "For the Eurovision Song Contest, the host broadcaster SRG SSR is working with the 'audio sweetening' method, which is common practice for major international productions.

"This process helps to harmonise the sound of the transitions between moderations, video clips and the individual acts and to create a consistent soundscape for the TV audience. It is used exclusively for the technical rounding off of the programme.

"This process is used equally and identically for all acts. The competition and its results are not affected in any way." Those watching at home quickly took to social media to comment on the mixed response after it aired.

And two people in the arena also tried to disrupt the performance. Two people attempted to rush the stage, organisers have said. A spokesman for SRG SSR revealed: “At the end of the Israeli performance a man and a woman tried to get over a barrier onto the stage.

“They were stopped. One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit. The crew member is fine and nobody was injured. The man and the woman were taken out of the venue and handed over to the police.”

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