The Eurovision Song Contest Was Once a Campy Joy – However It Has Evolved Into a Cynical Way to Whitewash War.
A new initialism came to light several months after the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Child casualty without any family left”. This designation is specific to Gaza, as stated by doctors including child health specialists. Normally, it is rare for physicians to attend to a young patient who has seen the death of their whole family. Yet, there has been nothing “normal” regarding the widespread destruction in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been eradicated and the number of child amputees is greater than that of anywhere else in the world. No sense of normalcy in scores of doctors returning from a landscape of rubble with accounts of children being intentionally shot at.
An Unimaginable Crisis In Spite Of a Announced Cessation of Hostilities
Gaza remains a profound humanitarian disaster. Critical healthcare resources are not getting in those in need, and groups like Amnesty International assert that genocidal acts are still being committed. Authorities rejects these allegations, just as it refutes everything it is charged with. Yet as grieving children who lost parents are now freezing in improvised encampments, there is a little heartwarming news: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision from continuing with its professed goal of “unity and cultural exchange.” Organizers will continue to extend a blood-red carpet for Israel, although at least four European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Since this, we are told, is what international harmony manifests as.
The contest, notably banned Russia from taking part in 2022 over the “grave situation in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza is completely different.
A Double Standard
Forget the fact that Israel was criticized for questionable voting tactics last year in what seems to have been an attempt to inject politics into Eurovision. Forget the fact that a three-year-old girl was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Forget the fact that settler violence and coerced removal in the West Bank have surged. Forget the fact that foreign reporters are still denied unfettered access in Gaza. This entire context, evidently, should be allowed to get in the way of Eurovision’s self-proclaimed spirit of unity.
The Pageant Proceeds Amidst Profound Human Cost
Eurovision turns 70 next year – roughly two times the average life expectancy of a person in Gaza at present. The broadcast will air, but it will likely never recapture the whimsical pleasure it was formerly known for. A contest that once promoted togetherness has now become a transparent instrument to whitewash war.
