Cauldron of Terror - Videocast Four - Eurovision, Nicholas Kristoff, Randy Dogs

Hello from Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. This is Mark Silinsky, welcoming you to an audio cast that supplements a video cast. Today, we will provide updates on some issues we discussed in my upcoming book, “Cauldron of Terror – Hamas, Israel and the World.” We will start with Kensington Updates, which cover issues we discussed earlier. Update - Eurovision Let’s begin with the Eurovision contest. Once again, Israel placed second, for the second consecutive year. Not bad. There are usually more than two dozen countries. This year, five countries boycotted the contest because Israel took part. Spain’s leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, said, “Our position is clear and unequivocal: until the barbarity ceases, neither Russia nor Israel should participate in any international competition.” Ireland neither participated in nor broadcast the contest, blaming Israel for killing too many Palestinians and targeting journalists in Gaza. It was much the same for Iceland with the curious explanation that, “The Song Contest and Eurovision have always had the aim of uniting the Icelandic nation, but it is now clear that this aim cannot be achieved and it is on these program-related grounds that this decision is taken." If you understand this, I envy you. How does Eurovision unite the Icelandic nation? I didn’t know that the Icelandic nation was divided. Is there a large Palestinian population there? I read the communique a few times, and I think that something was lost in translation. The Dutch kept away, too. They cited "severe humanitarian suffering in Gaza, the suppression of press freedom, and the political interference during the last Eurovision Song Contest." The severe humanitarian suffering in Gaza. Yes, Gazans suffer, though reasonable people could debate whose fault it is. Press freedom. Well, the press is not free to partner with Hamas operatives in terrorist attacks or to provide them with shelter or intelligence operations. That is too. Yes, yes. On the last point, political interference during the last Eurovision contest, presumably in 2025, is new to me. The Dutch did not explain what that interference was. Slovenia boycotted the program in a rage and would not air it on its television. Instead, they offered a program on Palestinian suffering. Well, these were the stated reasons. Was there more to the decisions? I don’t know if Israel cheated in Eurovision, as the Dutch claimed. But who cheated? Israeli leaders or a few low-level operatives? Israel's national broadcaster received a formal warning from Eurovision for encouraging viewers to cast 10 votes for their act, a move deemed a breach of competition rules designed to prevent voting manipulation. Is there something to this? I don’t know. Are other participating countries held to the same standards? Also, Turkey occupies Cyprus and has dislodged the Greek populations. Does that ever come up? What is important here? These are my thoughts. OK, the boycotters lost one this year. Israel participated and did very well. But there is next year and the year after. Each year, the continent becomes increasingly Islamic and restive. There are few Jews left in Europe, and many are leaving. So politicians have good reason to partner with the growing constituencies. The new left of the 1960s and 1970s has been reborn in Europe and the United States. Its adherents despise Israel, too. This is the green-red alliance, about which we have spoken many times on other podcast channels. So efforts to boycott and ostracize Israel in Europe are likely to accelerate. But Israel placed second two years in a row, largely through popular voting. Did Israel cheat, as some Europeans claimed? I don’t know. Where is the proof? Those Eurovisonistas who boycott or despise Israel were certainly on the lookout for cheating. There have been Eurovision contests for 70 years, and guardrails against cheating have evolved over time. If you have evidence of cheating, please let us know. So, assuming there was no massive and effective cheating, many Europeans wittingly voted heavily for Israel’s song. Why? My speculation is no better than yours. But Israel, once again, fueled a massive wave of public enthusiasm that translated into votes. Israel takes Eurovision very seriously. Eurovision’s results are decided by a split voting system. Half of each participating country’s score comes from a professional five-member music jury, while the other half comes from viewers voting at home via phone calls, text messages, and the Eurovision app. Each country awards points separately for jury and public votes, with the audience vote often dramatically reshaping the leaderboard during the live final. I can’t explain it any better than that, but I think I got it right. Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “hasbara” office – Israel’s overseas information unit – aggressively promoted voting. The Irish Times and several European intellectuals made much of this, as though he had done something wrong. Well, what is wrong with that? What am I missing here? When the Olympics were important, national leaders promoted some innocuous jingoism. “Support your team. Support your country.” That sounds harmless to me. Let’s look at the New York Times' reporting on this issue, since the Times is a powerful opinion-maker. At least one article cast Israel as engaged in warfare. One sentence reads, “Governments are not supposed to intervene in the voting. Eurovision is a contest for public broadcasters and singers, not governments.” What do they mean by “intervene?” Are government employees under an implicit gag order? If so, who says so? Does the Times make the rules? If Israel didn’t break or bend the rules, how can we explain Israel receiving 33.34% of the Spanish public vote, about 48,000 votes, last year? Spanish leaders despise Israel. Just look at Sanchez's public statements. I don’t know how Israel’s song took so many Spanish votes, but the song may have had something to do with it. The story goes that in 1958, gangly Texan Harvey Van Cliburn, fresh out of Juilliard, performed brilliantly at the Tchaikovsky competition. The jury was certain he had won but needed Khrushchev's approval. This was at the height of the Cold War. “Comrade Khruschev, what should we do?” “Does he deserve the prize?” asked the Soviet leader. “Oh yes, absolutely.” “Then give him the prize.” And that is what they did, making him an international sensation and the pride of Texas. Well, in the same vein, maybe Spaniards liked Israel’s song, Michelle. That is possible. Also, maybe some used this to protest the Sanchez government, which is loudly anti-Israel. Maybe some Spaniards cast it as a sympathy vote for Israel. Maybe it is a bit of all of these. My final thoughts. I have no evidence that Israel did anything wrong. Where is the proof of cheating? There was great national enthusiasm in Israel for participating by singing and voting. Isn’t that what Eurovision wants? Sometimes countries have good years in the contest. ABBA shone in 1974 with “Waterloo.” Britain had some good years, and in 2026, it charted dead last. European musicians have good times and bad. But what are your thoughts? If you think Israel cheated, please let us know, and we will respond on a videocast.             Dogs and Prisoners Well, let’s turn from song to savagery. We examine columnist Nicholas Kristof’s claims that Israelis systematically tortured captive Arabs in Israeli prisons. Victims were raped and sexually tortured. Quite a claim, considering the alleged rapists were both Homo sapiens and canines. You heard his charges by now. Well, as of late May 2026, Kristoff has not walked back his claims of Israeli prison torturers and dog rapists. He stands by his sources, which were primarily the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and several individuals with dubious backgrounds. Kristof acknowledged, “There is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes. But in recent years they have built a security apparatus where sexual violence has become, as a United Nations report put it last year, one of Israel’s ‘standard operating procedures’ and ‘a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians.’” The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor added that it concluded that Israel employs “systematic sexual violence” that is “widely practiced as part of an organized state policy.”             He bases his claims on the credibility of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, so let’s take a look. The founder and chairman, Ramy Abdu, is fixated on Israel and its alleged sexual deviancy. In a 2023 social media post, Abdu shared a map of Israel marking locations where he claimed sex offenders lived. The map was nonsense. It was discredited but remained online for a long time. Abdu also claimed that photographs of victims of the Syrian civil war were of Gazans. Who is the chairman of Euro-Med’s board? Richard Falk, about whom we have a profile in Cauldron of Terror. This man is far from neutral or objective and is deeply supportive of radical Palestinians. He is the personification of the Green-Red alliance, about which we have discussed extensively in other podcasts. Does this mean that Euro-Med’s claims are necessarily false? No, but where is the proof? As more information comes in about Kristoff’s claims, we will keep you informed.             The Yellow Pig of Padua             We will leave you with a picture of the embattled yellow pig of Padua. A few weeks ago, we had a podcast about a dustup between a senior Muslim man and a deli owner in Padua, Italy. The Muslim man demanded that the owner remove the offending pig from public view, claiming the plastic pig was an affront to all Muslims in Padua. As of this writing, the pig still stands proudly in the window, visible to all who pass by. My view is that this incident, by itself, is not especially important. But it is part of an avalanche of demands by Muslims in Europe. If the pig is defenestrated, other concessions will follow. Mark my words. This wraps up videocast four, in which we provided an update on Eurovision 2026, Kristoff’s claims about Israeli prison brutality, and the notorious yellow pig of Padua. Nothing in this videocast represents the official position of the United States. Until next week, on behalf of Kensington Security Consulting, thank you for listening.