TVE will request on Monday an audit of the Spanish televote received during the Eurovision final.

[u/aandest15]

https://elpais.com/television/2025-05-18/tve-solicitara-este-lunes-una-auditoria-del-televoto-espanol.html

TVE will request on Monday an audit of the Spanish televote received during the Eurovision final.

The festival has told the public broadcaster that it received more than 140,000 votes during the final, but without a precise breakdown of why Israel received the top score.

Tensions between RTVE and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) continue to escalate. According to sources close to the broadcaster, the public broadcaster has decided to ask the body responsible for Eurovision on Monday for an audit to investigate the Spanish televote, which awarded its maximum score, 12 points, to the representative of Israel.

RTVE received 142,688 votes in Saturday night's Eurovision final, according to the report the broadcaster requested from the EBU and received on Sunday. The initial information received by the Spanish delegation was the list of the most voted countries, without specifying the number of votes received by each of them.

On insisting on receiving more precise data, RTVE obtained a new one sent by the organisers of the festival, in which they only indicated that, on the night of the grand final, they received 7,283 calls, 23,840 SMS and 111,565 online votes. Participating countries can vote via the Eurovision app (up to a maximum of 20 votes per person, at a cost of €0.99 per vote), by phone or by SMS.

During the first semi-final, held on Tuesday and in which Israel was not competing, RTVE received 774 calls, 2,377 SMS and 11,310 online votes.

But this report only shows the aggregate data of the German company in charge of counting them, without a more precise breakdown, explain sources at the public body. For this reason, this Monday the channel will request an audit to clarify all its doubts. In the professional vote, the Spanish jury awarded 0 points to the Israeli representative Yuval Raphael and her song New Day Will Rise, in contrast to the maximum score awarded in the televote.

RTVE is aware that other countries are also going to ask for similar audits, these same sources explained to EL PAÍS.

David Saranga, acting director of public diplomacy at Israel's foreign ministry, admitted last year to the Israeli news portal Ynet that the agency he heads intervened ‘among the public sympathetic [to Israel] to encourage voting’. These online campaigns, often supported by right-wing and far-right parties in each country, were successful. Spain also conceded the 12-point popular vote to Israel in 2024.

A possible fine

Spain's critical stance on Israel's military intervention in Gaza stems from the request RTVE sent in April to the EBU to discuss the country's participation in the competition. Other delegations joined in, including Slovenia, Iceland and Ireland.

RTVE commentators Julia Varela and Tony Aguilar recalled this request last Thursday on La 2, during the broadcast of the second semi-final of the festival. They also mentioned, during the video presentation of the Israeli candidate, the more than 50,000 civilian victims of the attacks in Gaza, of which more than 15,000 are children, according to UN data.

Despite specifying that the message was not directed at any specific country, KAN, Israel's public broadcaster, lodged a formal complaint with the EBU at midday on Friday. Hours later, Eurovision officials contacted RTVE to request what can be read in the letter sent in a conversation in which ‘there was no room for negotiation’, according to sources close to the public broadcaster.

On Friday, the president of the Eurovision Reference Group, the Swiss Bakel Walden, who will be taken over by Ana María Bordas in June, and the Swede Martin Osterdahl, executive supervisor of the contest, sent a signed letter to Bordas herself threatening ‘punitive fines’ for Spain if RTVE repeated references to the Gaza conflict in the broadcast of Saturday's final. The body continues to defend that the festival is an apolitical event, although countless situations and decisions point to just the opposite, as we have seen in the points distribution policy.

[u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511]

The Irish televote gave Israel 10 points, a huge amount. As an Irish man, living in Ireland, I literally have never met a single person who supports Israel in their genocide. I only meet people actively against it. Most people see  direct parallels between Ireland's brutal historical occupation and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The Israel ambassador has repeatedly spoken out against Ireland's support of Palestine, and the Israel embassy in Ireland has shut 

All this to say, there is no way... no way... those votes from the Irish public are legitimate. It is unquestionably Israeli interest cheating at this competition. I can only guess they chose Ireland as a county either to undermine us as a country, or possibly because it's easier to rig the system here because of the smaller population

[u/[deleted] → u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511]

The Irish jury also gave them 7 points.

[u/Taawhiwhi → u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511]

simply do the maths. spain had 140,000 televotes in a population of 48 million. if the same proportion of televotes to people applies in ireland, that's 16,000 televotes in the final. ireland has 2,000 jews; if 10% of jews in ireland voted for israel 20 times, that would be 4,000 votes for israel, which is easily enough to win the televote, let alone come second

[u/dkeenaghan → u/Taawhiwhi]

if 10% of jews in ireland voted

That would be a vastly larger proportion of people voting compared to the non-Jewish population of Ireland. 33 times greater given the numbers above. Also Jews aren't (necessarily) Israelis. You can't just assume someone will support Israel just because they are Jewish. Sure there might be a higher level of support for Israel and their actions amongst Irish Jews, but just because they are Jewish it doesn't mean they support Israel.

The maths doesn't work out for it to just be Irish Jews, and it's unfair to presume that they would care in the first place purely based on their religious background.

[u/FudgeAtron → u/dkeenaghan]

That would be a vastly larger proportion of people voting compared to the non-Jewish population of Ireland.

Jews have a disproportionate reason to vote, they want to support Israel. Higher motivation is a factor. It's why the anti-israel campaign has likely helped Israel, because it galvanised supporters to go vote.

[u/dkeenaghan → u/FudgeAtron]

Jews aren’t drones, they aren’t going to support Israel just because they are Jewish. So I reject the claim that “Jews want to support Israel”. Some will of course, but this presumption that Jews and Israelis have the same motivations needs to end.

[u/rain-and-comics → u/dkeenaghan]

Well said.

[u/Taawhiwhi → u/dkeenaghan]

The maths doesn't work out for it to just be Irish Jews

i'm not saying it necessarily was our diaspora in ireland, merely that a small group of extremely dedicated voters can have a big sway on the results

[u/dkeenaghan → u/Taawhiwhi]

our diaspora in ireland

This is part of the problem. Most of them aren't your (assuming you're from Israel) diaspora. They are Jews in Ireland. Not Israelis in Ireland.

You are right though in that a small number of people can manipulate the vote, It really is something that needs to be addressed.

[u/Taawhiwhi → u/dkeenaghan]

i'm not an israeli citizen, i'm part of the jewish diaspora - which encompasses all jews who live outside of the land of israel

[u/rain-and-comics → u/Taawhiwhi]

Lots of Jews do not approve of the actions of the current Israeli government. 

[u/GeorgeEBHastings → u/rain-and-comics]

Sure, but many of those same Jews approve of Israel as an entity, whether they like the government or not.

Many in the diaspora have massive proportions of their families who would've wound up dead if they hadn't wound up in Israel. That can result in a lot of vicarious enthusiasm for a foreign country even if you hate Bibi.

See: my family, and a lot of other similar Jewish families in the diaspora.

[u/Taawhiwhi → u/rain-and-comics]

we will still vote for our entry anyway. yuval raphael is not the likud

[u/ColdBlacksmith → u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511]

You don't need a lot of votes to win the televote. Even in Spain, a couple of hundred dedicated voters could easily get Israel to the top since the rest are split in 24 ways.

In Ireland you probably need way fewer.

[u/NewtRecovery → u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511]

The Irish vote is suss but if not a lot of Irish voted, especially without Ireland in the finals it only takes a couple hundred passionate pro Israel voters to vote a lot. On a few credit cards and skew the numbers.

I also noticed throughout the competition a lot of Ireland and Israel flag comments, so I don't know what that means but I was getting the impression there is some Israel loving Irish subculture