The Eurovision Song Contest Was Traditionally a Campy Joy – But It Has Evolved Into a Calculated Tool to Whitewash War.
An new initialism came to light a few months into the intensive bombing of Gaza by Israel. Known as WCNSF, it signifies “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This term is specific to Gaza, per insights from health professionals including paediatricians. Typically, it is rare for physicians to care for a minor who has seen the death of their whole family. Yet, there has been absolutely nothing ordinary regarding the genocide in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been obliterated and the number of child amputees exceeds that of anywhere else in the world. Nothing ordinary about many doctors arriving back from a landscape of rubble with reports of children being deliberately targeted.
A Living Nightmare Regardless of a Reported Truce
The Gaza Strip continues to be an utter catastrophe. Vital medicines and equipment are failing to reach those in need, and groups like Amnesty International have stated that genocidal acts are still being committed. The Israeli government rejects these claims, just as it refutes each claim it is implicated in. But while grieving children who lost parents are now enduring frigid conditions in temporary shelters, there is a little heartwarming news: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from advancing its professed goal of “unity and artistic sharing.” Eurovision will continue to offer a blood-red carpet for Israel, even though at least four European countries have now boycotted in dissent. And this, we are told, is what international harmony resembles.
Historically, Eurovision excluded Russia from participating in 2022 due to the “grave situation in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza appears to be entirely distinct.
A Double Standard
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was criticized for unfair vote practices last year in what seems to have been an bid to politicise Eurovision. Set aside the news that a young child was reportedly killed in Gaza just days ago. Pay no mind to the evidence that attacks by settlers and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have escalated. Overlook the situation that foreign reporters are still prevented from freely reporting in Gaza. This entire context, apparently, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.
The Pageant Proceeds While Ignoring Profound Human Cost
The contest marks seven decades next year – roughly two times the current lifespan of a person in Gaza today. The show may go on, but it will find it impossible to reclaim the camp joy it historically embodied. A contest that initially championed peace has now become a transparent instrument to whitewash war.