Eurovision Used to Be a Campy Joy – Yet It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Gloss Over Warfare.

An new acronym surfaced several months into the intensive bombing of Gaza by Israel. Referred to as WCNSF, it stands for “Injured child with no living relatives”. This designation is specific to Gaza, as stated by medical experts like child health specialists. Normally, it is unusual for physicians to care for a minor who has seen the death of their whole family. However, there has been absolutely nothing ordinary concerning the genocide in Gaza, where whole bloodlines have been obliterated and the number of young amputees surpasses that of anywhere else in the world. Nothing normal in many doctors arriving back from a devastated terrain with accounts of children being systematically aimed at.

A Living Nightmare Regardless of a Supposed Ceasefire

The Gaza Strip continues to be an utter catastrophe. Vital medicines and equipment are failing to reach those in need, and international watchdogs assert that atrocities are still being committed. The Israeli government disputes these accusations, just as it refutes all charges it is accused of. Yet as traumatised orphans are now freezing in improvised encampments, there is some ostensibly positive news: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from continuing with its professed goal of “unity and artistic sharing.” Eurovision will continue to extend a blood-red carpet for Israel, although several European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Because this, we are told, is what international harmony resembles.

Eurovision, of course banned Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “serious conflict in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza appears to be completely different.

Contradictory Principles

Overlook the circumstance that Israel was criticized for unfair vote practices last year in what could be seen as an attempt to politicise Eurovision. Forget the fact that a three-year-old girl was reportedly killed in Gaza just days ago. Forget the fact that attacks by settlers and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have escalated. Disregard the condition that global media are still denied unfettered access in Gaza. All of this, evidently, should be permitted to obstruct of Eurovision’s cherished spirit of unity.

The Show Goes On Amidst Unimaginable Suffering

The contest reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – roughly two times the projected longevity of an individual in Gaza at present. The broadcast will air, but it will never be able to restore the camp joy it historically embodied. An institution that was originally built on harmony has devolved into a blatant mechanism to whitewash war.