oatmeal<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Eurovision" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Eurovision</span></a> / Israel still allowed to maintain access to platforms of cultural diplomacy despite an ongoing genocide </p><p>Israel's strategic deployment of cultural representation in the face of allegations of genocide is relentless. While facing <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ICJ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ICJ</span></a> investigation and scholarly condemnation of a genocide that has resulted in over 46,000 Palestinians deliberately and systematically murdered by the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IDF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IDF</span></a> (using U.S.-supplied weaponry,) Israel's Eurovision participation—featuring a survivor of the October 7 attack—is attempting, once again, to instrumentalize personal victimhood in service of state legitimation. </p><p>It’s difficult to ignore the fact that this centering of Israeli suffering within international cultural forums occurs simultaneously with the systematic marginalization of Palestinian perspectives and experiences. The disproportionate media attention given to Israel's Eurovision candidacy, relative to, say, coverage of ongoing genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, not to mention a brutal occupation, reflects broader patterns of narrative control that obscure accountability for actions against an occupied population. </p><p>As one Israeli commentator wrote, “the song written for her [Yuval Raphae] by Keren Peles lacks even a trace of originality and freshness, resembling something more on the level of a young talent night at an unpopular brasserie - and conveys an oppressive sense of extra effort to be appealing.[…] And if that doesn't help either, one can always say that the problem isn't the lyrics, the melody, the French, the clip, the Keren, or the Peles: in the end, everyone is antisemitic.</p><p>Hebrew <a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/entertainment/article/bjkqmw3s1x" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">ynet.co.il/entertainment/artic</span><span class="invisible">le/bjkqmw3s1x</span></a></p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/palestine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>palestine</span></a></span> <br><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/israel" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>israel</span></a></span> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GazaGenocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GazaGenocide</span></a> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IsraelOccupation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IsraelOccupation</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/eurovision2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>eurovision2025</span></a> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/yuvalabraham" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>yuvalabraham</span></a> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antisemitism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>antisemitism</span></a> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/hasbara" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hasbara</span></a></p><p>* Edit: name Yuval Raphael</p>