Eurovision Used to Be a Lighthearted Spectacle – However It Has Transformed Into a Cynical Way to Gloss Over Warfare.

An new initialism emerged a couple of months after the start of the intensive bombing of Gaza by Israel. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This acronym is found only in Gaza, according to health professionals such as paediatricians. Normally, it is rare for physicians to treat a minor who has lost their whole family. Yet, there has been no semblance of normality concerning the devastating conflict in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been eradicated and the number of young amputees is greater than that of anywhere else in the world. No sense of normalcy about scores of doctors returning from a landscape of rubble with testimonies of children being intentionally shot at.

A Living Nightmare Despite a Reported Truce

The Gaza Strip continues to be hell on earth. Vital medicines and equipment are failing to reach those in need, and major human rights organizations contend that atrocities are still being committed. Officials rejects these allegations, consistent with how it denies everything it is accused of. Yet as traumatised orphans are now freezing in improvised encampments, there is a piece of uplifting information: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from continuing with its stated mission of “togetherness and artistic sharing.” Organizers will continue to offer a prestigious stage for Israel, even though a number of European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Since this, it seems, is what global togetherness resembles.

Eurovision, of course banned Russia from competing in 2022 over the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. However, the situation in Gaza is treated differently.

Contradictory Principles

Forget the fact that Israel was accused of irregular participation methods last year in what appears to have been an bid to politicise Eurovision. Forget the fact that a young child was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza just days ago. Neglect the data that aggression from Israeli settlers and forced displacement in the West Bank have escalated. Disregard the condition that foreign reporters are still denied unfettered access in Gaza. This entire context, it would seem, should be allowed to get in the way of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.

The Contest Continues While Ignoring Staggering Tragedy

The contest turns 70 next year – almost double the average life expectancy of a person in Gaza at present. The broadcast will air, but it will likely never recapture the pure, unadulterated fun it historically embodied. An institution that was originally built on harmony has transformed into a blatant mechanism to sanitize military aggression.