by Brendan O’Neill, spiked
It’s undeniable now: bigotry, hypocrisy and double standards are the fuel of today’s anti-Israel mania.
There’s a question that needs to be asked of those four nations that have flounced out of Eurovision over Israel’s inclusion: why were you content to take part in 2003? That year’s camp shindig took place on 24 May, two months after Britain invaded Iraq. A mere nine weeks after the UK aligned its military might with that of the US and waged an illegal, unjustified war on a sovereign state that would cause the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents. And yet there you were, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands, all gaily bopping along to Britain’s crap entry – ‘Cry Baby’ by Jemini.
Let’s up the ante. Why were you happy to take part in 2006? British forces were still in Iraq as part of what the UN had condemned as an illegal war. By 2006 the true horror of the Iraq venture was widely known. A hundred thousand had perished. Murderous Islamists had moved into the vacuum left by Britain and America’s toppling of the Ba’athist regime. In 2006, almost 100 people died in extreme violence in Iraq every day. Yet there you were, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands, all singing along to the UK’s creepy entry – ‘Teenage Life’ by Daz Sampson.
This question needs to be put to every person who’s hollering for a boycott of next year’s Eurovision. Not just to the cultural overlords of Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands – who announced yesterday that they’re pulling out – but also to the bedroom-bound Israelophobes cheering them on. And those preening members of the LGBTQ community who say they won’t watch their beloved Eurovision if the nasty Jewish State is there. And those legion twats in keffiyehs yapping about how Israel’s toxic presence will sully Eurovision forever.