Eurovision Used to Be a Lighthearted Spectacle – But It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.

An new initialism came to light several months after the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it means “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This designation is specific to Gaza, according to health professionals like paediatricians. Ordinarily, it is unusual for doctors to treat a young patient who has been bereaved of their complete family. Yet, there has been nothing “normal” about the widespread destruction in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been wiped out and the number of child amputees surpasses that of anywhere else in the world. Nothing ordinary in scores of doctors returning from a landscape of rubble with testimonies of children being deliberately targeted.

A Living Nightmare Despite a Supposed Ceasefire

The Gaza Strip continues to be a profound humanitarian disaster. Vital medicines and equipment are not getting in those in need, and major human rights organizations assert that genocidal acts are continuing. Officials rejects these claims, consistent with how it denies each claim it is implicated in. But while traumatised orphans are now enduring frigid conditions in temporary shelters, there is a little heartwarming news: nothing is going to stop the international singing competition from continuing with its professed goal of “unity and cultural exchange.” Organizers will continue to roll out a blood-red carpet for Israel, even though at least four European countries have now withdrawn in objection. And this, we are told, is what global togetherness resembles.

The contest, notably banned Russia from competing in 2022 due to the “serious conflict in Ukraine”. However, the situation in Gaza seems treated differently.

Contradictory Principles

Overlook the circumstance that Israel was accused of unfair vote practices last year in what seems to have been an effort to inject politics into Eurovision. Set aside the news that a young child was reportedly killed in Gaza recently. Pay no mind to the evidence that attacks by settlers and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Overlook the situation that foreign reporters are still denied independent reporting 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 Pageant Proceeds While Ignoring Unimaginable Suffering

The contest turns 70 next year – roughly two times the current lifespan of someone in Gaza at present. The event will proceed, but it will likely never recapture the whimsical pleasure it was formerly known for. An institution that once promoted peace has transformed into a blatant mechanism to whitewash war.