The tension is rising, Eurovision 2025 has arrived, promoting brotherhood among nations. Do the Scandinavian countries still love each other? Are Cyprus and Greece still besties? Will Europe's largest Jewish community once again arrange a French "douze points" (the coveted maximum 12 points)? And besides brotherhood, Eurovision also has songs, three minutes each, but those are peripheral—one can skip them and move straight to voting. Or first, to the jarring disruptions of the Israeli song.
This isn't new. Among the glittering costumes and heavenly pyrotechnics, Eurovision has become an anti-Israeli arena, reaching its peak last year in the Muslim city of Malmö. Then, the atmosphere was filled with toxic anti-Semitism, which has now migrated to the city where Herzl founded the Jewish state. Tonight, to the chorus of boos that will accompany the Israeli song, it was decided to add PLO flags, under the pretext of "freedom of expression."
There are die-hard Eurovision fans. I'm referring, of course, to Hamas supporters and terrorism enablers, who for PR purposes call themselves "pro-Palestinians." Let's see them find "Palestine" on a map. For them, Eurovision is an organized tour, with a structured itinerary of anarchic activities and vandalism at various sites, culminating in a day of anti-Israeli riots marking Israel's entry into the competition.
Basel police immediately stepped up to approve and secure the plan: "We cannot restrict freedom of expression," expertly explained the spokesperson for the local Ministry of Justice and Security. What more do you want, their hands are tied! Freedom of expression—above all!
Well, that's debatable. When local pro-Israel Jews requested to hold a quiet demonstration in support of the Israeli singer, the local police prohibited it, out of concern for their safety of course, and added threats of fines and indictments if they violated the ban.
The initiative's organizers protested: "Freedom to demonstrate is a right in Switzerland," they wrote in response, "but in the past year and a half, this right has been denied to Jewish organizations, who are excluded from public spaces, and Jews are repeatedly asked to avoid participating in public events out of concern for their safety."
The Israeli National Security Council also issued a warning this week to Israelis in Basel
The council noted that in the past year, 360 anti-Israeli protest events took place in Switzerland, which tend to escalate into violence.
One shouldn't get upset over a single event. But Eurovision reflects the state of all of Europe, bowing its head to the new Arabic-speaking conqueror and conditioning its Jews to remain fortified in their homes.
It's easy for Europe to turn a blind eye to lawbreakers as long as their arrows are aimed at Jews, and to trade away, for a moment of false peace, the freedom of expression of the obedient and quiet minority. "Classic Europe," if you will, and it's only logical that its annual party would look accordingly.
18,000 Jews currently live in Switzerland, a country that prides itself on neutrality and chocolates. Back then too, at the world's moment of truth, they chose "neutrality" until the storm passed, and in its name also refused to accept Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. And now today, when chocolates have been replaced by baklava, and neutrality by submission to Hamas supporters, just like then, protecting Jews has become an unbearable burden for the local police.
Switzerland is again choosing not to fight. "Eurovision has become another public event where Jews are targeted, threatened, and may be physically attacked," warn the organizers of the forbidden pro-Israeli demonstration, as they lament the lost freedom of expression.
But at least tonight, we... we will be fine. When our Yuval takes the stage, herself a survivor of the massacre, we will be for three minutes the proudest in Europe. We'll be moved together by the Israeli flags waving in the hall in Basel, even if they're swallowed up among the watermelon colors, and even the jarring boos won't be able to extinguish the love. We will sing a song of peace with a prayer for a different tomorrow, and they will wave flags of terror and hatred.
Regardless of the judges' votes, we have already won, as a people and as a culture. Millions in Europe who understand this will give us their vote. All the rest will join later, and until then, may God protect them.
The writer is WIZO President.