Eurovision Was Traditionally a Campy Joy – However It Has Evolved Into a Cynical Way to Sanitize Conflict.

An freshly coined initialism surfaced a few months into the military campaign against Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it means “Injured child with no living relatives”. This term is specific to Gaza, according to medical experts like paediatricians. Ordinarily, it is unusual for doctors to treat a young patient who has seen the death of their complete family. Yet, there has been nothing “normal” about the widespread destruction in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been eradicated and the number of children who have lost limbs surpasses that of any other region in the world. Nothing normal in many doctors returning from a devastated terrain with accounts of children being systematically aimed at.

A Hell on Earth In Spite Of a Reported Truce

The Gaza Strip continues to be an utter catastrophe. Essential medical supplies are failing to reach those in need, and international watchdogs assert that genocidal acts are continuing. The Israeli government has denied these allegations, consistent with how it denies each claim it is accused of. But while grieving children who lost parents are now suffering from the cold in temporary shelters, there is a piece of uplifting information: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision from continuing with its stated mission of “unity and cultural exchange.” The contest will continue to offer a welcoming platform for Israel, even though several European countries have now pulled out in protest. And this, it seems, is what unity resembles.

The contest, notably excluded Russia from competing in 2022 over the “grave situation in Ukraine”. However, the situation in Gaza is treated differently.

A Double Standard

Disregard the reality that Israel was alleged to have used unfair vote practices last year in what seems to have been an attempt to manipulate Eurovision. Forget the fact that a toddler was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza recently. Forget the fact that settler violence and forced displacement in the West Bank have surged. Disregard the condition that foreign reporters are still prevented from independent reporting in Gaza. This entire context, it would seem, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.

The Pageant Proceeds Amidst Profound Human Cost

Eurovision turns 70 next year – almost double the current lifespan of an individual in Gaza at present. The event will proceed, but it will likely never recapture the camp joy it once represented. An institution that once promoted harmony has now become a blatant mechanism to provide a cultural veneer for conflict.