[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
Ireland is hoping to win the anti-Israel competition — its nearest European rival is Spain, coming up fast on the outside with Pedro Sanchez wishing that he might have a nuclear weapon in order to defend his country against the colonial-settler, ethnic-cleansing, genocidal state of Israel. The country of peat bogs, poetry, James Joyce, and Cruiskeen Lawn has just announced, through its state broadcaster RTE, that if Israel is allowed to take part in next year’s Eurovision contest, then Ireland will pick up its metaphoric marbles and go home. The absurd depths to which the Irish, with their current anti-Israel animus clouding their minds, have sunk, is discussed here: “Dublin won’t participate in Eurovision 2026 if Israel does, says Irish broadcaster,”
Ireland will not take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is allowed to participate, Irish broadcaster RTE says, arguing that doing so would be “unconscionable” because of the conflict in Gaza.
Israel has participated in Eurovision as a longtime member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes and co-produces the annual event.
Ireland’s RTE says a number of EBU members had raised concerns about Israel’s taking part during a meeting in July.
“RTE feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza,” the broadcaster says in a statement.
It would be “unconscionable” to take part in the Eurovision contest if an Israeli entrant is allowed? How grotesque this unmerited hysteria and hate has come. What has happened to sanity in the Emerald Isle?
And what “ongoing and appalling loss of lives” in Gaza are they talking about? As of now, of the 64,000 people in Gaza who, according to Hamas, have died, 26,000 of those were Hamas combatants, and 19,200 others died from non-combat-related causes, including accidents and diseases, over 24 months of war. Of the 2.2 million people in Gaza, then, fewer than 1% were civilians who died as a result of the war.
Those deaths are regrettable, but is it accurate to describe them as part of an “ongoing and appalling loss of lives”? And why didn’t the Irish broadcaster say anything about Hamas’ deliberate policy of embedding its men and weapons among civilians, hoping they suffer casualties that can then be exploited in anti-Israel propaganda? Nor did the Irish broadcaster take note of the tremendous efforts made by the IDF to minimize civilian casualties, by dropping millions of leaflets, sending millions of text messages, and making millions of robocalls, all in order to warn civilians of areas and buildings about to be targeted. This effort is what led West Point professor John Spencer, who has closely studied the war in Gaza, to conclude that “Israel has done more and implemented more measures to prevent civilian harm than any military in the history of urban warfare.”
“RTE is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages,” it adds.
The Israelis have offered evidence, including photographs of “journalists” hugging Yahya Sinwar, and Hamas’ own lists of its members that were found by the IDF in Gaza, that many of the so-called “journalists” in Gaza are, in fact, also, and mainly, Hamas operatives, and it is in that capacity that they become legitimate targets.
Does Ireland want its singers to remain in the Eurovision contest and give it their best, or does it want to pick up its marbles and go home, denying them the chance to succeed, all because an Israeli will also be singing? Do I detect a malodorous stench of antisemitism coming from the Emerald Isle? I’m afraid so. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Or, as Flann O’Brien would put it, “namhaid a dhéanamh de do rún, do shonas a thabhairt ar do dhonas.”
