Extremists are the loudest, but not the majority - opinion

I cannot count how often Eden Golan, Israel’s representative to the Eurovision Song Contest, was humiliated, attacked, or pressured. Although we joke about how, in Israel, everything is politics, we discovered this week that everything, everywhere, is about ignorance and antisemitism.

The anti-Israel violence, with thousands of pro-Palestinian and Muslim demonstrators, did not remain outside the walls of the Malmö Arena where Eurovision was hosted. Boos were also heard during the rehearsals, and the other contestants behaved so rudely toward Golan that it bordered on harassment. The boos during the live broadcast of the competition were so loud that they had to be filtered out in the recording.

During the press conference, when 20-year-old Golan was asked a question, the Greek competitor yawned theatrically and pretended to be asleep. The Polish reporter accused Golan of endangering the other participants with her presence. Denmark’s candidates bullied the Israeli team, refusing to attend rehearsals and making it necessary to move the Israeli delegation to a separate rehearsal room.

An international bullying campaign

Last year’s winner said that if Golan were to win, she would not agree to go on stage with her. Nevertheless, Golan took the stage, motivated, focused, and excited. Bullying and hate led to the opposite response than what was originally anticipated, and Israel was one of the favorite potential winners.

Eurovision is known as an event of diversity and inclusion. The Jewish community embraces the event every year, including here in Israel. This year, the performances stretched thin the definition of liberalism.

Just as “Queers for Palestine” are a delusional joke of history, so are the young American feminists fighting for Hamas. The irony is hard to miss.

Bullying, hatred, ignorance, and hypocrisy were all collected into one event, ostensibly a singing competition, in Malmö.

And yet, while we say that “everything is politics,” in fact the riotous violence clearly did not reflect the opinion of the general public who showed Golan so much support in many countries.

The violence of the demonstrators in Europe, including many Muslims, deters many Europeans. “Building An Alternative” connects female leaders in dozens of cities worldwide. They say that the locals connect to the pro-Israel silent marches and protests more than the violent protests of the pro-Palestinians.

However, we are in the midst of a billion-dollar global branding campaign based on a false narrative that has convinced millions that the truth is a lie and that a lie is the truth.

This is how we got to where a young woman in a song competition had to face a violent “progressive” world fighting for a religious Islamic fundamentalist regime that would not allow any of those representatives to survive in Gaza for an hour without being thrown from the roof (especially in the outfits they came on stage with). No keffiyeh nail design like the one sported by the Portuguese representative would be of any help if she fell into the hands of Hamas. 

I DO not believe that the demonstrations are spontaneous. On October 8, the demonstrators were already ready with signs and slogans because they had been activated in advance.

As someone who leads protests, I know how long it takes to decide on messages and produce signs. Here, there was a metaphorical rear-wheel drive that was ready to go less than 24 hours after the massacre.

I wonder how European feminists who, ordinarily, would understand that there was this shocking bullying of a young woman who just wants to sing, can choose not to stand at her side. 

In the United States, I am astonished at the liberal feminists, increasingly losing their right of control over their own bodies in state after state, who, instead of taking to the streets to protest this, invest all their energy in the pro-Palestinian struggle for the benefit of Hamas terrorists.

The swing of the pendulum is likely to bring conservative forces to power in the US as a reaction to the violent protests in the name of “progressives” who are now siding with Hamas.

The backlash to the extreme progressive and now violent current will become manifest in the upcoming elections. We are facing global changes. Progressives would do well to wake up better off before it is too late.

Golan ended up in fifth place despite being almost completely ignored by the judging teams – but with huge support from the scoring of the Europeans from home. Perhaps there is room for hope.

The writer is an Israeli women’s rights activist, lecturer, social activist, strategist and media personality. She is among the initiators of the coalition of women’s organizations and the founder of Building an Alternative (Bonot Alternativa).