Eurovision

Yeh I thought it was much better this year too. More of the cheesy, fun Eurovision that it used to be. Sweden was v funny, one of my favourites 

Most of the world, including the UN, have accused Israel of ethnic cleansing. Israelis won’t allow foreign journalists into Gaza, yet thanks to evidence pieced together by journalists and others, Israelis have admitted some  killings of aid workers were unjustified.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers in Palestine continue to land grab, destroying olive trees, livelihoods and forcing Palestinians out of their homes. This has been going on for years before Hamas took Israeli hostages. Palestinians have been subjected to other degrading treatment by Israeli authorities for years. Taking Israeli hostages cannot be justified, but it needs to be put into context to understand why this war has happened.

Even if we were to put all that aside, nothing, absolutely nothing in the world justifies starving children to death. That is a war crime.

I appreciate your admiration for the Israeli singer. She has indeed been through hell and back. She was a survivor of the attack on the Nova music festival on October 7th. She hid under dead bodies in a shelter for 8 hours to avoid the terrorists. I believe she only started singing afterwards as a way to rebuild her life. A remarkable woman, her very existence and presence on that stage is an inspiration. 

As far as Israel's actions that you mention, I do not believe they are committing genocide. They are not murdering people in Gaza. It is a warzone and, tragically, innocent civilians always die in war. Over half a million German civilians were killed in WW2. A The situation is made worse in this case because Hamas use their own women and children as human shields and deliberately place their weapons depots inside schools and hospitals etc. In addition, Hamas steal the aid that arrives in Gaza, actually beating and attacking civilians that try to reach the aid. They then stockpile this aid to feed their own fighters and sell what is left back to the Gazan people at exorbitant prices so as to make money for more arms and other weapons. That's why there is hunger in Gaza. The leaders of Hamas are millionaires living in mansions in Qatar while the people of Gaza starve.

Israel is engaged in a war for it's own survival against enemies on all sides. 

Israel is also actually the only functioning democracy in the Middle East and the only country in the region which guarantees religious freedom, gender equality and freedom of expression. 

I love Eurovision but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed last night, perhaps too many dance songs for me!

My favorite was Lithuania, I always enjoy the rock songs, closely followed by Latvia, I read that it's based in Latvian folklore and mythology. I did enjoy Austria and he seems such a lovely person so I was really glad for him!

I have to say I was surprised Estonia did so well, I get it was funny but wasn't it a bit offensive...make fun of your own culture!

I really liked the Austrian song - I’m glad they won. I felt great sympathy and admiration for the Israeli singer as she’s obviously been through hell and to get back to singing that very empowering song like that is amazing. But I would have been HORRIFIED if Israel had actually won because what Israel is doing to people in Gaza is undoubtedly genocide - they are murdering and starving completely innocent children and it is utterly unforgivable and criminal. If Israel had won imagine the message that would send out to the world. Just appalling. So I was so incredibly relieved when Austria won. 

I am a big Eurovision fan and have watched since being small. There were quite a few entertaining acts, I liked the Sauna thing, there was a dragon which I liked, the coffee thing was funny the dancing was bizarre but was surprised that Austria won. It was nothing special but at least it kept out Israel.

I’m usually not a big Eurovision fan, but Switzerland had quite the well organised event planned out. Nice show and a few funny songs. My favourite must have been Sweden, just because it was rather funny and I’m already a huge fan of Swedish culture (including their withdrawn lifestyle… sometimes in saunas ).