Sarah Harte: Ireland gave Israel 10 Eurovision points. Did we forget what a green mouth once meant?

While millions tuned in to Eurovision, Gaza starved. Ireland and Europe must stop normalising genocide through silence and spectacle

A displaced Palestinian girl from northern Gaza sits and gazes inside a makeshift tent at Gaza's port, where families who flee their homes take refuge in western Gaza City, on May 20, 2025. Picture: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

You might say, what does a campy song contest that France once called a “monument to drivel” have to do with Gaza? Yet, as Israel announced on Sunday the start of ‘extensive ground operations in Gaza', the day after the Israeli entrant came second in the Eurovision, there is a connection. 

The Eurovision took place against the backdrop of Israel continuing its total siege of Gaza, blocking humanitarian aid from entering the region since  March 2, and bombing the Palestinian enclave since March 18.