Eurovision Was Once a Lighthearted Spectacle – However It Has Evolved Into a Calculated Tool to Gloss Over Warfare.

A recent acronym came to light a few months after the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Labeled WCNSF, it signifies “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This acronym is unique to Gaza, as stated by health professionals including paediatricians. Normally, it is rare for doctors to attend to a young patient who has been bereaved of their whole family. However, there has been nothing “normal” concerning the genocide in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been eradicated and the number of young amputees surpasses that of anywhere else in the world. Nothing normal in many doctors returning from a devastated terrain with accounts of children being systematically aimed at.

A Living Nightmare In Spite Of a Supposed Ceasefire

The Gaza Strip continues to be an utter catastrophe. Critical healthcare resources are not getting in those in need, and major human rights organizations contend that atrocities are still being committed. Officials rejects these allegations, just as it disavows everything it is implicated in. Meanwhile, while traumatised orphans are now freezing in temporary shelters, there is some ostensibly positive news: apparently nothing is going to stop the international singing competition from continuing with its stated mission of “unity and cultural exchange.” Organizers will continue to roll out a blood-red carpet for Israel, although a number of European countries have now withdrawn in objection. And this, it seems, is what international harmony looks like.

The contest, notably excluded Russia from competing in 2022 over the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. But the crisis in Gaza is completely different.

A Double Standard

Disregard the reality that Israel was criticized for irregular participation methods last year in what seems to have been an bid to manipulate Eurovision. Ignore the report that a three-year-old girl was reportedly killed in Gaza recently. Neglect the data that aggression from Israeli settlers and coerced removal in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Disregard the condition that international journalists are still denied freely reporting in Gaza. All of this, it would seem, should be allowed to get in the way of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.

The Pageant Proceeds While Ignoring Unimaginable Suffering

Eurovision reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – roughly two times the average life expectancy of a person in Gaza today. The event will proceed, but it will likely never recapture the camp joy it was formerly known for. A contest that initially championed harmony has transformed into a blatant mechanism to whitewash war.