The Eurovision Song Contest is holding its 70th edition grand final in Vienna on Saturday amid a politically charged atmosphere, with five countries — Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain — boycotting the event over the continued inclusion of Israel. Spain's withdrawal is particularly significant as one of Eurovision's "big five" highest-contributing broadcasters, whose state broadcaster RTVE said the contest's stated mission of neutrality had become "impossible to maintain" given Israel's ongoing military operations in Gaza. The organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a technical association of national public broadcasters that oversees the contest, have defended Israel's participation by noting they lack the political mandate to act unilaterally and that, unlike the near-unanimous EU consensus that led to Russia's exclusion in 2022, European opinion on Israel remains divided — though historians warn that the boycotts risk undermining the competition's founding post-war ideal of fostering continental peace and collaboration.