Rapper Macklemore lost his opening slot for Ed Sheeran after shouting “Free Palestine!” It was one of several episodes in less than a month that, EL PAÍS reported on October 3, 2026, brought the Palestinian cause back to the centre of public conversation. Political leaders, particularly in the Global North, have increasingly dropped it from their public remarks.
The pattern reaches across the arts. Actresses Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder were arrested in New York after calling on the United States to stop funding Israel’s war while Benjamin Netanyahu attended the UN General Assembly. Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor released their film NAZA online for free after it won an award at the Venice Film Festival; the Israeli government had branded them traitors and threatened to revoke their citizenship.
Madrid and Granada Divided
In Spain, the argument has turned practical. The Festival of Ideas in Madrid faced possible collapse when more than 30 participants demanded that organisers drop Allianz’s sponsorship because the company holds Israeli bonds. Political scientist Máriam Martínez-Bascuñán signed the letter that prompted the festival to drop the sponsor.
At the Cultura Alh festival in Granada, rival manifestos still circulate over the decision to rescind an invitation to Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz, who denies a genocide in Gaza. Signatories including Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Cristina Rivera Garza and Alejandro Zambra wrote: “Organizing a peaceful boycott is not censoring. Criticizing is not censoring, protesting is not censoring.” Others, including Fernando Savater, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo and Manuel Valls, countered: “Defending freedom of expression only for those who think like us is not defending it: it replaces the free confrontation of ideas with ideological selection.”
The Madrid City Council and regional government, which organise the Festival of Ideas, framed it as a debate about “censorship and cancellation.” Mariano de Paco, culture councilor for regional premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said: “We deplore that ideological debates substitute persuasion and reasoning with pressure and intimidation.” Ayuso invited Harwicz to join any forum in Madrid she wished.
Who Carries the Risk
Not everyone involved has a star’s protection. Writer Dahlia de la Cerda and communicator Nerea Pérez de las Heras said many signatories face precarious situations. De la Cerda described the book chain of publishers, distributors and bookstores as “the whole circuit that determines who circulates, who has visibility, and who gains access to opportunities.” Pérez de las Heras said critics accuse signatories of inconsistency “to paralyze us,” arguing that ethical consumption under capitalism is impossible.
Valerio Rocco, director of the Círculo de Bellas Artes and one of the festival’s organisers, pointed to cultural institutions’ fragility. “When they face attacks and accusations, withdrawn support and unimaginable pressures, the vulnerability of the cultural sector is felt very clearly, even physically,” he said.
Uri Rosenwaks, a filmmaker and former director of the Israeli Forum of Documentary Directors, offered another view. “We Israelis have become toxic people,” he said. “In the cultural sphere cancelling Jews is justified.” Luis Salazar of Rescop, part of the BDS movement, cited a letter in which 50 Israeli documentary filmmakers backed boycotts of their country’s institutions. He also pointed to South Africa under apartheid and Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
The Eurovision Question
Russia was expelled from Eurovision in 2022 after invading Ukraine. The European Broadcasting Union took no action against Israel, and Spain and Ireland withdrew from the contest in protest. Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE skipped the 2026 contest and published a message calling for peace and justice for Palestine.
The Israeli dance company Batsheva is scheduled to perform Sadeh21 at Madrid’s Teatros del Canal from October 15 to October 17, 2026. The company didn’t respond to the newspaper. Choreographer Nacho Duato said the regional government “uses it to whitewash the genocide” and added: “If they end up dancing, then let them dance, but this needs to be discussed.” Duato said he spends much of the year dancing in Russia and called Putin a dictator.
Professor Itziar Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta of the Autonomous University of Madrid said culture has never been decoration. “Cultural voices, by virtue of their fame, are the only ones managing to get a small foothold on the political-media stage,” she said. The article reports that the Israeli army has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians since 2023, a figure Israeli commanders have acknowledged, in an offensive the UN described as genocidal.
Why This Matters: The article describes a gap between governments and the public. Cultural figures are raising a conflict that political leaders have largely stopped discussing, and they’re doing so while the cultural sector’s own fragility is on display. Precarious writers, publishers and festival organisers face pressure that stars can absorb more easily. The Madrid and Granada disputes show how difficult it is for European institutions to balance free expression against calls for boycott. Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta said cultural, social and university pressure is vital, but she also called on governments that voice sympathy for Palestine to reduce repression worldwide so refugee and exile reception programmes can exist. Her point links gestures of solidarity to concrete obligations of protection that European governments can meet or fail to meet.