Demos in the streets, boos in front of the stage: Israel’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest has to contend with a lot of headwind this year – but at the end of the evening, the audience votes singer Eden Golan into the final. She qualified with nine other acts on Thursday evening in Malmö. The final will take place in the southern Swedish city on Saturday.
The artist was greeted with boos and applause during rehearsals. Whistles were sometimes heard when the result was announced. During the show itself there was massive cheering.
At several demonstrations that day in the city, thousands of people called for the country to be excluded from the competition – climate activist Greta Thunberg was also among the protesters. Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part in the “Exclude Israel from Eurovision” demonstrations.
There was also supposed to be a solidarity demonstration for the Israeli singer in the evening. The police’s security measures in Malmö were significantly increased as planned – with support from Denmark and Norway, among others. Numerous security forces were on duty.
Israel’s participation has been the subject of a lot of criticism for months because of the Gaza war. Numerous artists called for Israel to be excluded from the competition right from the start. In 2022, no Russian musicians were allowed to participate after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The ESC is actually decidedly apolitical; its rules prohibit artists from making explicit political speeches, gestures and messages. Eden Golan had to rewrite her song. The song, now called “Hurricane,” was originally titled “October Rain” and was rejected as too political by the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the singing competition, because of references to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
All participants for Saturday evening have been confirmed
Switzerland also secured a ticket to the final. Theatrically, the non-binary act Nemo spun on a disc on the large stage with a powerful voice.
The contribution for the Netherlands is certainly not unknown to the German audience. Rapper Joost Klein secured a place in the final this year with “Europapa”. The 26-year-old stormed the charts in Germany last year when, together with Berlin rapper Ski Aggu, he transformed the well-known Otto Waalkes song “Friesenjung” into a techno version. Greece, Austria, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Norway and Estonia also qualified.
As part of the “Big Five”, Spain, France and Italy are already seeded for the final. They were still able to perform their songs in the second semi-final. Italy’s entry received huge applause for the danceable number that evening and is likely to be considered one of the favorites of the Grand Prix. The 26 participating countries for the Eurovision Song Contest have now been determined.