Eurovision 2019: And So it Continues.

A direct continuation of; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2019/05/eurovision-2019-and-so-it-begins.html

If your rheumy eyes can't spot the small addition you're probably not detail orientated enough for Eurovision.

In that post I looked at why Israel is hosting the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.

It is an attempt to put the Israel/Palestine Conflict back in the spotlight. Due to the ongoing war in Israel's other neighbour, Syria, the Israel/Palestine Conflict is in danger of becoming yet another of the World's forgotten wars.

For example Eurovision has finally forced me to make the time to write about the incredibly bad humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Along with how that growing sense of hopelessness is being shown through the weekly March of Return Protests. Where Gazans now seem prepared to die simply because life in Gaza has become so bad they can no longer bear to live there.

Despite this the Song Contest community has come under attack from other supposed supporters of the Palestinian people. Particularly through the campaign group; "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)."

This is actually far from the first time that Eurovision has clashed with BDS.

Up until 1997 there was no public voting at the Eurovision Song Contests. All points were awarded by shadowy national juries.

There's never been any strict rules about how these jury panels were selected. It's really been left up for each nation to decide.

However the tend to be, what's known in political jargon as; "Quasi-Autonomous, Non-Governmental Organisations (QUANGOS)."

That means that they are not part of the nation's government. But they are close to, and have good communication with, people who are part of the nation's government. Particularly the diplomatic and intelligence services.

This year Iceland are providing an excellent example of this type of relationship.

They are represented by the band Hatari one of whose members is Matthias Tryggvi Haraldson. He is the son of Iceland's current Ambassador to the UK. So if he as any questions about British politics he certainly knows who to call.

In the days before public voting Israel's participation was an extremely precise affair. The strength of its entry in any particular year would be balanced against the nation's behaviour. Particularly towards the Palestinians.

This is something which was clearly shown with Israel's 2018 Song Contest entry.

The US moved its Embassy to Jerusalem, effectively recognising the city as Israel's capital. This was met with widespread international condemnation. As a result Israel knew they had to produce a very strong Song Contest entry.

Conversely if Israel's actions have been met with widespread approval, such as dismantling illegal settlements, Israel would produce a relatively weak Song Contest entry.

The extent to which weak entries are marked up and strong entries are marked down, and by which nations, became an important way to support or condemn Israel's behaviour.

When public voting was introduced this precision all but disappeared from the Song Contest.

Particularly from the mid-2000's onwards it was replaced by really quite nasty anti-Semitism. It didn't matter how good or bad the entry was or how well or poorly Israel was behaving. The Israeli entry would always be voted out before the Grand-Finale.

This became extremely frustrating for all concerned.

Along with the Scandinavian nations like Sweden and Norway, Italy and Russia Israel is one of those nations which is naturally very good at the Song Contest. Even when they're not really trying or deliberately putting forward a weak entry they normally still deserve to end up in the top 10-15 overall.

You could argue that the Eurovision Song Contest is just a silly little game that nations play. However if people aren't even bothering the play the game then it all becomes just utterly pointless.

This trend of rising anti-Semitism at the Song Contest of course reflected a wider trend of rising anti-Semitism across European society. This coincided with a similar shift and growth in the BDS campaign.

The specific campaign group BDS was only formed in 2005.

However the tactic of using Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to support the Palestinians has been around for much longer. Certainly since the Boycott Movement against Apartheid in South Africa began in 1959.

In my student protest days, around the start of the 21st century, I had a lot of involvement with pro-Palestinian activists who used BDS tactics. Many of them were not only Jewish themselves but actually Israeli Jews. Living in Europe to avoid going to prison for refusing the serve in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

These BDS activists would work tirelessly to identify the companies which were profiting from Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and at that time Gaza. Not only would they identify the companies they would also identify the specific actions those companies were taking.

This knowledge was then used to tailor specific campaigns for each company. Based on its actions and how it was profiting from the Israeli occupation.

So for example a company like Caterpillar would be given a high priority for intense action. Its profits from the occupation simply came from selling the IDF bulldozers to be used to demolish Palestinian homes.

A company like SodaStream would be given a much lower priority. Its profits from the occupation came from operating a factory at the Israeli settlement of Lehavim.

However this Lehavim factory employed both Palestinians and Israeli Jews. Providing scarce work for the Palestinians and an environment were Palestinians and Israeli Jews were able to co-exist.

This idea of using economic prosperity as a mechanism for peace has time-and-time again shown itself to be highly effective.

It is the central idea behind the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The need to protect Ireland/Northern Ireland cross-border trade, and therefore peace, has become a major sticking point in Britain's exit from the EU.

The BDS activists I knew would not only identify the companies and their specific operations. They would also look at how decisions are made with in the company.

So for example if an election for the board of directors saw an aggressive, Zionist candidate running against a moderate candidate. There BDS activists would make sure all the shareholders in the company knew about this.

In order to try and get the moderate candidate elected. Hopefully changing the direction of the company.

In this new breed of pro-Palestinian activist, led by the BDS campaign group itself, all of that precision and work has disappeared. They no longer look at the specific companies, how they make their profits and how they make their decisions.

SodaStream's Lehavim factory is a prime example of this. Having been given a low priority by BDS campaigns it suddenly became a prime target for this new breed. In 2016 it was forced to shutdown for good. Removing that vital mechanism of peace through Palestinian prosperity.

That new breed of BDS activist don't even seem to bother look at whether the companies actually operate in the Israeli occupied West Bank. Instead they target all companies and people with any connection to Israel. Regardless of whether they're involved in occupied West Bank territories.

Sadly from some its quite clear that the problem isn't that Israel is occupying Palestinian territory. It's that Jews exist at all.

I think one of the main driving factors in this shift was the US and British invasion of Iraq in 2003.

This renewed an alliance between pro-Palestinian activists and the political left in Europe and America. At a level not seen since the golden age of terrorism in the 1960's and 1970's.

That alliance was further strengthened be a succession of Israeli wars against Gaza and Lebanon. In 2006 and again in 2008.

One the main problems with this alliance is that the political left in Europe and the US aren't really that interested in the plight of the Palestinians. Instead they are doing to serve their own political agenda.

For example in Britain the Liberal Democrat (LibDem) party built its entire popularity on being the only main political party to oppose the Iraq war.

They then of course proceeded to completely destroy that popularity by joining a coalition with the Conservative Party in 2010. Immediately breaking a campaign pledge not to increase student tuition fees.

The Iraq War came shortly after Democrat US President Bill Clinton was succeeded by Republican US President George W Bush. Something which involved President Bush defeating Democrat candidate Al Gore.

As now seems to be the pattern when it comes time for US Democrats to cede power they do not do so peacefully. President Bush's election was met with the same wave of protests and legal challenges that we're seeing now Republican President Trump has replaced Democrat President Obama.

So for much of the American political left their objections to the Iraq War were not moral ones. It was just their latest excuse to try and unseat a Republican President.

With the European and American political left only being interested in how the Palestine issue can further their own agenda they actually know very little about the subject. I for example know that Palestine and Iraq are different countries. They do not appear to.

A prime example was when a British Conservative Minister, Priti Patel, was found to have made an unofficial visit to Israel in late 2017. It's claimed that there she promised to help get Britain to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.

The British political left immediately demanded that Priti Patel resign. And that the Golan Heights be returned to the Palestinians.

Which caused a fair bit of confusion amongst the Israelis, the Palestinians and the Syrians. From whom Israel had annexed the Golan Heights in 1967.

This lack of knowledge extends not just to the region and its politics but Muslims as a whole.

European and American leftists tend not to see Muslims as people but as a sort of mythical and exotic other. No more a part of real life than the dusky, brown tribes in Game of Thrones.

For the typically very white, very privileged leftists one Muslim friend is the ultimate fashion accessory and bragging right. Far more a badge of honour than having one gay friend, or even one transgender friend.

Not being able to see Muslims as people European and American people seem unable to question them. Holding them to the same standards you would anyone else.

An excellent example of this was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. And how she handled the issue of autopsies in the wake of the March 2019 Christchurch shootings.

I genuinely don't think she realises that while its a religious teaching most Muslims don't actually believe that the human body feels pain after death.

This is a particular issue in Britain. A significant proportion of British Muslims practice a form of Islam known as Deobandism. This is a very extreme form of Islam which is similar to Whabbism.

It's really why many of those Muslims are now living in Britain. They pretty much got kicked out of Pakistan and Bangladesh for being too extreme.

That lack of knowledge means that many European and American leftists don't realise that in many forms of Islam there is a deeply ingrained culture of anti-Semitism. This has nothing to do with Israel's treatment of Palestinans and preceeds the creation of the state of Israel by nearly a thousand years.

Not understanding that opposition to Israel and certain Muslim's anti-Semitism are separate things European and American leftists often end up getting the two things confused.

Under Jeremy Corbyn Britain's Labour Party seem to produce examples of this on an almost hourly basis. A particular example is Labour MP Naz Shah.

At one point Naz Shah claimed that Muslim men have the right to sexually abuse non-Muslim children. Any attempt by the police and courts to stop them is nothing more than Islamaphobia.

A view that caused a lot more shock in the Muslim world than it did amongst British leftists.

In April 2016 it was revealed that Naz Shah had made a series of anti-Semitic Tweets. Including one that called to Israel to be relocated to America.

This idea had been used as a joke in the TV show; "The Big Bang Theory." Which can hardly be accused on being anti-Semitic. One of the stars of the show, Mayim Bialik, is very Jewish. She insists that all her costumes adhere to Orthodox modesty standards.

So many British leftists didn't understand why Naz Shah's comments were anti-Semitic.

In the TV show the idea was used as a joke about the character making the suggestion. To show how out of touch with reality he was.

In her comments Naz Shah was trying to erase the thousands of years of history in which Jews have lived in and around the area of modern Israel. Once you start trying to erase people from history it's a small step to trying to erase them from the present.

In America, back in November 2018, a commentator for the CNN news network was fired for anti-Semitism. After he, Marc Lamont Hill, gave a speech at the UN on International Palestinian Solidarity day. Calling for; "A Free Palestine From the River to the Sea."

Again many leftists couldn't understand why this was anti-Semitic Any different from calling for the creation of a Palestinian state as part of the two state solution.

Calling for a Palestine from the river to the sea demands a single Palestinian state. Stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. That involves the destruction of Israel and its entire Jewish population.

Essentially exterminating or ethnically cleansing some 8 million people. Ten times the number of the roughly 800,000 Palestinians who were displaced by the creation of Israel.

It is not a call for tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Aside from the Israel/Palestine Conflict there are two other main issues. Which I don't think will really come as a surprise to anyone.

Western Balkans.

This really deals with the ongoing threat of the Greater Albania movement.

Greater Albania was an area created during the Nazi occupation of Europe. By the Muslim Nazis that European and American leftists don't seem to think exist. It stretched far beyond the modern nation of Albania including parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and even parts of Greece.

Far from being a thing of the past this Greater Albania movement still very much exists and is constantly trying to re-establish the expanded Albanian nation.

This was the cause of the 1999 Kosovo War where Albania simply stole Serbia's southern Kosovo Province. With the help of then US President Clinton who really needed to distract voters from his impeachment.

The EU's solution to this Albanian threat is simply to absorb Albania and its neighbours as members.

The main sticking point has been Macedonia. This has been locked in a long-running dispute with its neighbour Greece. As an existing EU member Greece has been able to block Macedonia becoming a member.

Greece objects to Macedonia's use of the name; "Macedonia."

They think this implies a territorial claim over the Greek province of Macedonia. Which directly neighbours Macedonia the country. As a result Macedonia has long been officially known as; "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." FYR Macedonia.

After years of EU-led negotiations FYR Macedonia agreed to change its name to; "North Macedonia." Pending the idea being supported by a public referendum in September 2018.

The EU agreed that this referendum would need a turnout of at least 50% in order to be legally binding.

However the name change idea was deeply unpopular amongst Macedonian voters who boycotted the vote. Meaning that it had a turnout of 36%. Roughly the exact number of ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia.

In its own uniquely democratic way the EU then overturned the referendum law and imposed the name change of Macedonia anyway.

Without a hint of irony the EU even hailed this deeply unpopular and widely boycotted referendum as an amazing victory for democracy. Of which all Europeans should be proud.

This is the first Song Contest where Macedonia is appearing under its new formal name; "North Macedonia."

Macedonia's name change and it and Albania's accession to the EU should have been the main item on the agenda at the December 2018 EU Council (EUCO).

Until it was hijacked by British Parliamentarians complete inability to cope with Britain's Withdrawal Agreement with the EU.

Also the logo the Israeli hosts have chosen for this years Song Contest is a five pointed star. Except one of the segments looks like it keeps trying to break away and leave.

I'm sure Hovi Star, who represented Israel at the 2016 Song Contest will assure you this is a reference to the Star of David at the centre of Israel's flag. Before it evolved into that design the symbol of the Jewish was, for a long time, a five pointed star. Similar to the one currently used on Morocco's flag.

This year's Eurovision logo though does seem remarkably similar to the logo Britain's BBC News uses for its Brexit coverage.

So it should come as little surprise that the other major theme this year is;

Brexit.

Even here Britain has managed to screw this up.

It's entry was selected in early February 2019. It is built entirely around the idea that Britain would have already exited the EU and now be negotiating trade deals with the rest of the World.

So although Britain has once again brought its way into the Grand-Finale I'm not holding out much hope.

Even Britain seems to be trying to make the scandal of the Jeremy Kyle show its entry this year. Eurovision is, of course, a TELEVISION Song Contest.

While it didn't make it through the First Semi-Final I was actually really impressed by Hungary's contribution to the Brexit discussion.

The main theme of Hungary's entry was comparing the suffering of Europe's Jews with the suffering of Europe's Gypsies. First under the Nazis and then under the Soviets.

Europe's Jews suffering under the Nazis is of course well known. They seem to have got a country out of it and a free pass to behave as badly as they like.

Particularly in America Europe's Jews suffering under the Soviets is also very well known. It was a recurring story of the Cold War.

Throughout the Cold War Russian Jews would try to flee Soviet oppression by emigrating to Israel. Every time they applied for an exit visa it would be refused. The application form coming back with the word; "Otkaz" or "Refusal" stamped on it.

As a result these Russian Jews became known as "Otkazniks" or "Refuseniks." Those who have been refused.

The British media have taken to referring to MP's, such as Yvette Cooper etc, who are trying to block Brexit as; "Refuseniks." 

If you know a bit of Russian or are familiar with the Cold War story that really sets your teeth on edge. Every time you hear it.

In the Brexit metaphor the Refuseniks are the are the MP's who want to leave the EU. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg etc.

The likes of Yvette Cooper are the anti-Semitic, totalitarian bureaucrats who keep stamping "Refusal" on the application to leave.

Although most of us just refer to her by her name. The rest is implied.

10:42 on 16/5/19 (UK date).