A new initialism came to light a few months into the military campaign against Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it signifies “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This designation is found only in Gaza, as stated by health professionals like paediatricians. Ordinarily, it is unusual for physicians to care for a young patient who has been bereaved of their entire family. However, there has been no semblance of normality about the genocide in Gaza, where whole bloodlines have been wiped out and the number of young amputees is greater than that of any other region in the world. No sense of normalcy about scores of doctors coming back from a devastated terrain with accounts of children being deliberately targeted.
The Gaza Strip continues to be hell on earth. Critical healthcare resources are failing to reach those in need, and international watchdogs contend that violations are still being committed. Authorities disputes these accusations, consistent with how it disavows each claim it is implicated in. Meanwhile, while traumatised orphans are now suffering from the cold in improvised encampments, there is a piece of uplifting information: nothing is going to stop the international singing competition from advancing its stated mission of “unity and cultural exchange.” The contest will continue to extend a prestigious stage for Israel, although a number of European countries have now boycotted in dissent. And this, we are told, is what international harmony resembles.
The contest, notably excluded Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza appears to be treated differently.
Disregard the reality that Israel was criticized for questionable voting tactics last year in what could be seen as an effort to inject politics into Eurovision. Set aside the news that a toddler was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Neglect the data that settler violence and forced displacement in the West Bank have escalated. Forget the fact that foreign reporters are still prevented from independent reporting in Gaza. All of this, it would seem, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s cherished spirit of unity.
The contest reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – almost double the average life expectancy of a person in Gaza today. The event will proceed, but it will find it impossible to reclaim the camp joy it was formerly known for. A competition that once promoted peace has now become a cynical way to whitewash war.
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