‘Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel.’

The First Noel, Traditional English Christmas carol

Last week Iceland became the fifth nation to boycott Eurovision 2026 due to Israel’s participation.

We might remember that Iceland chose to be represented in Eurovision 2019, hosted in Tel Aviv, by the band Hatari (meaning ‘Hater’) with a song titled ‘Hatred will prevail’, with lyrics, ‘Hate will prevail… Europe’s heart impale’. And Hatari makes no secret of its hatred of Israel.

‘Hate will prevail’ is not music. It is discordant spewing of hatred. It is anti-music that seems to appeal to cohorts of the West’s Red-Green alliance that hate Judeo-Christian civilization.

Since God named his people ‘Israel’, no anti-Israel movement has endured. Jews have suffered horrendously at the hands of anti-Israelists and antisemites in many epochs, but none of the empires or caliphs that have occupied Israel and attempted to appropriate Hebron and Jerusalem have endured. They’ve all gone: Canaanites, Edomites, Assyrians, Hellenes, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Mamluks, Ottomans… Today’s anti-Israelist movements such Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and, here in the UK, the Socialist Worker Party, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Muslim Association of Britain… will too all be gone, pray in our lifetime. This seems to be a law of metaphysics, and, indeed, God of Israel’s laws of harmony and music, to which we will come.

There is no music or joy in Israel’s enemies. I have met many antisemites, but I have never met a joyful one.

Western music is overwhelmingly indebted to the Jews, ancient and modern. In Western classical and modern music, Jews – who comprise a

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)