The week of Benidorm Fest 2024 has begun and everything is ready for the semifinals to begin, which will decide the eight participants in Saturday’s grand final. To this end, the presenters of the gala and the subsequent program attended a press conference in which the topic of Israel and the war in Gaza could not be missed.
And this has been one of the issues that has been discussed the most these weeks. Despite protests by various organizations and former Eurovision participants, Israel is one of the countries confirmed for this edition. A decision that has generated controversy on social networks and from which the organization distances itself by ensuring that Israeli public television has not broken the rules.
Given this scandal, it is not surprising that one of the questions that arose in the last press conference before the first semi-final of the Benidorm Fest was about this topic. “I will say this as Inés Hernand and not as RTVE. I cannot compromise the position of the public, but I have my clear position there,” the presenter began to relate.
If the woman from Madrid is clear about one thing, it is that a “massacre” and “genocide” are being committed in Gaza. Something that she has assured, pointing out again that it is her personal opinion. “I demand a ceasefire now and I have expressed myself in this regard,” she added.
Inés Hernand is always characterized by not holding back a hair when it comes to expressing her thoughts and continues with her convictions to the end. “And of course she participated in the festival when Russia was banned last year in similar circumstances, because she suggests other issues that have a lot to do with capital,” she said.
An opinion that she does not “care” to express publicly because, according to her, it is Israel who is doing things wrong. “Because they are the ones who murder, not me,” she concluded, generating applause from everyone present.
Given the words of Inés Hernand, María Eizaguirre, communications director of RTVE, wanted to comment on the matter. Among other things, she has stated that the corporation remains firm on what they agreed to at the beginning. “The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public broadcasters from all over Europe and the Middle East. It is a competition for broadcasters – not for governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the competition for 50 years,” RTVE said at the time.
Although Hernand will not present the Benidorm Fest 2024 galas from the Green Room, as in the two previous editions, she is one of the presenters of the subsequent program, with interviews with the participants. On the other hand, Ana Parada will take the baton of the communicator, along with Ruth Lorenzo and Marc Calderó.
