Eurovision Used to Be a Whimsical Delight – Yet It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.
A freshly coined acronym emerged a couple of months after the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Referred to as WCNSF, it means “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This designation is specific to Gaza, according to health professionals including child health specialists. Typically, it is uncommon for doctors to attend to a child who has seen the death of their entire family. However, there has been absolutely nothing ordinary regarding the widespread destruction in Gaza, where whole bloodlines have been obliterated and the number of young amputees is greater than that of any other region in the world. Nothing ordinary in numerous doctors returning from a sea of ruins with reports of children being systematically aimed at.
An Unimaginable Crisis Regardless 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. The Israeli government has denied these accusations, consistent with how it disavows everything it is charged with. But while young survivors are now enduring frigid conditions in improvised encampments, there is some ostensibly positive news: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision from continuing with its declared purpose of “togetherness and artistic sharing.” Organizers will continue to offer a welcoming platform for Israel, even though at least four European countries have now boycotted in dissent. And this, apparently, is what international harmony looks like.
Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “serious conflict in Ukraine”. But the crisis in Gaza seems treated differently.
A Selective Vision
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was criticized for questionable voting tactics last year in what seems to have been an attempt to manipulate Eurovision. Set aside the news that a toddler was reportedly killed in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Neglect the data that aggression from Israeli settlers and forced displacement in the West Bank have escalated. Overlook the situation that global media are still denied independent reporting in Gaza. This entire context, apparently, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.
The Contest Continues While Ignoring Unimaginable Suffering
The contest reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – almost double the average life expectancy of someone in Gaza today. The event will proceed, but it will never be able to restore the whimsical pleasure it historically embodied. A competition that was originally built on togetherness has now become a blatant mechanism to whitewash war.
