Eurovision Used to Be a Campy Joy – However It Has Evolved Into a Strategic Method to Sanitize Conflict.

A recent term surfaced a couple of months after the start of the military campaign against Gaza. Referred to as WCNSF, it stands for “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This designation is found only in Gaza, per insights from health professionals such as paediatricians. Typically, it is rare for medical staff to treat a minor who has been bereaved of their entire family. Yet, there has been no semblance of normality regarding the genocide in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been eradicated and the number of child amputees surpasses that of any other region in the world. No sense of normalcy about scores of doctors returning from a devastated terrain with reports of children being intentionally shot at.

A Hell on Earth Despite a Supposed Ceasefire

Gaza remains hell on earth. Critical healthcare resources are not getting in those in need, and groups like Amnesty International assert that violations are ongoing. The Israeli government has denied these allegations, consistent with how it disavows each claim it is accused of. Yet as traumatised orphans are now suffering from the cold in temporary shelters, there is a little heartwarming news: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision from continuing with its declared purpose of “togetherness and artistic sharing.” The contest will continue to offer a prestigious stage for Israel, even though a number of European countries have now pulled out in protest. Since this, it seems, is what global togetherness resembles.

Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “grave situation in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza is treated differently.

Contradictory Principles

Overlook the circumstance that Israel was alleged to have used irregular participation methods last year in what appears to have been an attempt to politicise Eurovision. Set aside the news that a three-year-old girl was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza recently. Pay no mind to the evidence that aggression from Israeli settlers and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have escalated. Overlook the situation that foreign reporters are still prevented from independent reporting in Gaza. This entire context, evidently, should be permitted to obstruct of Eurovision’s cherished spirit of unity.

The Contest Continues Amidst Profound Human Cost

Eurovision reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – nearly twice the average life expectancy of someone in Gaza today. The broadcast will air, but it will likely never recapture the pure, unadulterated fun it historically embodied. An institution that once promoted peace has devolved into a blatant mechanism to whitewash war.