Eurovision Update

Remember Radio National's Fran Kelly interview with Sydney University political science academic and self-described "Eurovision fanatic," Anika Gauja? (See my 5/5/19 post Zero Gravitas.)

Well, trawling through Gauja's Eurovision tweets from Tel Aviv (and omg their name is legion!), just to see what else, if anything, she was up to over there, I noticed the following:

*Apart from #Eurovision, for the next two weeks I'll be based at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem, working with Gidi Rahat and the reform team on improving the health of Israeli political parties @IDIisrael (13/5/19)

Improving the health of Israeli political parties? The mind boggles. Now I may be naive, but I would have thought that parties such as Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, HaBayit HaYehuda and the rest are fairly brimming with Zionist self-esteem and Greater Israel vigour.

Then, back to Eurovision itself, there's this:

*There's something about Israel's hosting of #Eurovision that reminds me of that kind of person who always turns the conversation round to be about themselves (14/5/19)

What a stunning revelation! Who, but our Eurovision fanatic, would have thought that Eurovision in Israel would be all about... Israel?

Hm, I wonder when Operation Eurovision, or whatever it's called, will resume again in Gaza now that the party's over...