I’m not a fan of the Eurovision, but strangely, the beginning of my activism against the genocide of the Palestinian people began with the Eurovision. My first ever act of protest against the genocide was to write an email to RTE asking them to pull out of the Eurovision, in protest of Israel’s participation. They didn’t respond, how rude! At least the BBC responded when I wrote an email complaining about them! My first ever blogpost about the genocide, was to a large extent about Israel’s participation in the Eurovision. That’s here:
So, there is a weird connection between my opposition to Israel and the Eurovision, even though I’ve never seen the Eurovision. And one of the weird lessons I’ve learned over the last year is to never, ever, trust someone from Macroom. Let me explain.
Bambi Thug was the Irish contestant for the Eurovision from last year. And yes, they are from Macroom. They made a lot of noise about support for Palestine, including saying that they cried when Israel made it through:
Bambi Thug was also told by the European Broadcasting Union to remove messages from their costume in Ogham (an ancient Irish writing script) that said “Ceasefire” and “Freedom For Palestine.”
I really thought Bambi Thug should have just refused to participate in the Eurovision. But, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they were between a rock and a hard place, hating the mass slaughter of the Palestinian people on one hand, but on the other, it being a life long dream to compete in the Eurovision. And I also thought that being part of the Eurovision might make a certain amount of pragmatic sense, they could use the platform that being a Eurovision contestant gave them, to shine a light on the horror that was going on in Gaza and the West Bank. So I thought, okay, once Bambi Thug is finished with the Eurovision, then they can go on to be a proper activist for Palestine, won’t that be great!
And after the Eurovision, the silence from Bambi on Palestine was deafening. Lesson learned, NEVER trust anyone from Macroom.
But seriously, I think an important lesson was learned from that. I think it showed that, once you’ve decided to participate in the Eurovision, a competition which basically acts as an apologist for the apartheid and mass slaughter of the people of Palestine, you are so morally compromised that you are not just going to go on to be some sort of hero for Palestine once the competition’s over. It’d be like expecting someone who does a singing contest hosted by Charles Manson to go on to be a really extreme pacifist. That analogy sounded less convoluted in my head, but that’s what I got.
But at least this year’s Irish contestant is honest. The Irish contestant has said that her job is to “bring comfort and happiness” especially during “hard times.”
At least there’s no bullshit there. “I will be an obedient cog in the genocide machine that is the Eurovision. If I ever have an independent thought, I will not express it. OBEY OBEY OBEY!” At least it’s honest though. The Irish contestant, called Emmy, is from Norway. I know, a Norwegian contestant representing Ireland, but, at the end of the day, Israel is in the Eurovision, and that doesn’t make sense either.
Hang on a second though, I’ve had some thoughts on this lately. Yes, at first glance, it does seem patently absurd for Israel, which isn’t in Europe, to be in the Eurovision. But, the more I think about it, the more I realize…….
HAVING ISRAEL IN THE EUROVISION MAKES PERFECT SENSE.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how Israel being in the Eurovision is interesting, incredibly interesting actually. And I’m going to argue here, that Israel choosing to be in the Eurovision is much more of a confession than Israeli society realizes.
The Eurovision, I mean, it’s in the name, it’s a contest for European countries. But Israel is in Asia, so that doesn’t make sense. Unless you consider the fact that, Israel is a European creation, a European country that was simply dropped on top of an Asian country, Palestine, and consequences be damned to the people who were already living there.
Israel is in the Eurovision, because it IS a a European country. Except, instead of actually being geographically in Europe, it was superimposed on top of an already existing Asian country, destroying the culture, rights and lives of the people who already live there.
What is generally considered to be the genesis of the State Of Israel is the Balfour Declaration, a statement from the British government supporting “the establishment in Palestine of a home for the Jewish people.”
https://www.britannica.com/event/Balfour-Declaration
It was written by Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, on November 2nd 2017.
Britain eh? So far, so very European. Read on.
Palestine had been a part of the Ottoman Empire, but during World War I, the Ottoman Empire was on the losing side, and one of the consequences of WWI was that the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. Palestine was now controlled by the British Empire:
The Mandate For Palestine it was called, and the British Empire would now control Palestine’s future. And as an Irish person I can say, that’s usually a disaster, and by “usually” I of course mean “always”.
In 1948, the Mandate For Palestine came to an end, and the State Of Israel was created. David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of the new Israel, made the announcement while standing under a giant portrait of Theodor Hertzl.
David Ben Gurion, a Polish man, under a portrait of Hertzl, who was, by a wide margin, one of the biggest advocates for a state of Israel, and he was from Austria-Hungary.
It all sounds very European to me!
This is why, I will no longer be pointing out the “absurdity” of an Asian country competing in the Eurovision. Israel is not an Asian country, it never was and never will be. Israel is a European creation, with, as is too often the case, the British Empire’s meddling in world affairs being a fairly big part of it. It was a country created by Europeans and for Europeans, without even an ounce of regard given to the people who already lived there.
So, the fact that Israel WANTS to be in the Eurovision is something I’m really happy with, to me this is the nation’s subtle confession to the reality of what it is. But Israel should not be allowed be in the Eurovision, or the Olympics, and no country should be trading with them. Israel needs to be boycotted, and shunned from the world stage. A country that has murdered, by conservative estimate, and the word conservative is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, fifty thousand men women and children should not get to be the darling of the world, Israel needs to be treated as the terror state state that it is, and treated the same way Apartheid South Africa was when it refused to treat black people as human beings.
So yeah, this year, and every year until they do the right thing, boycott the fucking Eurovision, and NEVER trust anyone from Macroom!
Ponderings Of An Autist 
Nice post 🙏🎸
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