More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since 2023, a figure Israeli commanders have acknowledged. The UN described the offensive as genocidal. Cultural campaigns have brought the war back into public debate, as artists, writers and festival participants across Europe challenge the silence of political leaders, particularly in the Global North, EL PAÍS reported on October 3, 2026.
In less than a month, rapper Macklemore lost his opening slot on Ed Sheeran’s tour after shouting, “Free Palestine!” Actresses Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder were arrested in New York while calling on the United States to stop funding Israel’s war, as Benjamin Netanyahu attended the UN General Assembly. Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor released their award-winning Venice Film Festival documentary NAZA online for free after the Israeli government branded them traitors and threatened to revoke their citizenship.
The institutions deciding who is heard
At Madrid’s Festival of Ideas, more than 30 participants demanded that organizers withdraw Allianz’s sponsorship because the company holds Israeli bonds. Political scientist Máriam Martínez-Bascuñán signed the letter that led to the withdrawal. Nerea Pérez de las Heras, who also signed, said more than 500 authors supported writers and students who backed the decision to rescind an invitation to Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz at the Cultura Alh festival in Granada, after she denied a genocide in Gaza.
Pérez de las Heras said people used accusations of inconsistency to paralyze those challenging corporate sponsorship. “Obviously we are all subject to survival pressures, but our level of commitment is constant,” she said. Writer Dahlia de la Cerda said publishers, publications, distributors and bookstores all shape the literary industry. “It is the whole circuit that determines who circulates, who has visibility, and who gains access to opportunities.”
Macklemore later announced a three-concert tour, with all proceeds going to organizations working in Palestine. Javier Bardem has backed the cause on prominent platforms, including the Oscars ceremony. EL PAÍS reported that Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo had been blacklisted in Hollywood and smeared as antisemitic; it described Hollywood as an industry intertwined with Israeli capital since its origins.
Boycott, expression and selective rules
The dispute over cultural boycotts has centred on censorship, freedom of expression and whether artists should face exclusion because of their links to Israeli institutions. Uri Rosenwaks, filmmaker and former director of the Israeli Forum of Documentary Directors, said Israelis had become “toxic people” and that their presence at conferences, film festivals or book fairs could create problems. Some people supporting Harwicz’s participation, or opposing the exclusion of Israeli intellectuals because of their birthplace regardless of their political views, have argued that Jews face indiscriminate persecution.
Luis Salazar, spokesperson for the cultural area of the Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine (Rescop), which is part of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), said the movement had debated boycotts for more than two decades and coordinated through working groups across Europe. He cited a letter from 50 Israeli documentary filmmakers supporting boycotts of their country’s institutions. Signatories to one Granada manifesto said, “Organizing a peaceful boycott is not censoring. Criticizing is not censoring, protesting is not censoring.” Opponents said ideological selection could replace the free confrontation of ideas.
Russia was expelled from Eurovision in 2022 after invading Ukraine, in accordance with the competition’s statutes. The European Broadcasting Union did not take the same action against Israel. Spain and Ireland withdrew from the contest in protest, and Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE did not show the 2026 song contest. Instead, it published a message calling for peace and justice for Palestine.
Refugees, exile and political responsibility
Itziar Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta, professor of international relations at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said cultural, social and university pressure was vital. She also called on governments expressing sympathy for Palestine to reduce repression worldwide so refugee and exile reception programs could exist. The issue links those programs to the broader political debate over Palestine and the actions of European and U.S. elites, whom Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta said had maintained commercial collaboration with Netanyahu’s government and its war economy.
The Israeli dance company Batsheva, funded by Netanyahu’s government according to its own accounts, was scheduled to perform Sadeh21 at Madrid’s Teatros del Canal from October 15 to October 17, 2026. Choreographer and dancer Nacho Duato said the Madrid regional government used the company “to whitewash the genocide.” The company didn't respond to the newspaper’s inquiry. Valerio Rocco, director of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, said cultural institutions were fragile when confronted with attacks, withdrawn support and pressure.