MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on Monday for Israel's exclusion from international cultural events such as the Eurovision song contest over its military campaign in Gaza,

Eurovision has been accused of permitting vote-rigging after Israel narrowly missed out on winning this year’s fiercely contested finale. Spain 's RTVE and Belgium's VRT have formally raised concerns with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) after Israel’s contestant, Yuval Raphael, finished second and dominated the public vote.

Spain and Belgium’s broadcasters accuse song contest of ‘encouraging manipulation’ after Yuval Raphael wins public vote

The EBU warned broadcasters against using the Eurovision Song Contest as a political platform after Spain's decision to air a pre-recorded statement

Pedro Sánchez accuses Eurovision of hypocrisy for allowing Israel to compete while barring Russia, drawing sharp rebuke from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Dutch public broadcasters AVROTROS and NPO have called for talks with the Eurovision Song Contest organizers about Israel’s participation and the contest’s claim to being an apolitical event. They want to raise the issue with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU),

Sanchez's calls to disqualify Israel from Eurovision were out of the need to "show solidarity with the Palestinian people."

RTVE, which courted controversy with its openly anti-Israel stance during its coverage of the competition, reportedly harbours ‘doubts’ about the validity of the public vote.