The final of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place tonight (Saturday) with mixed feelings, including great excitement alongside tension from increased security threats and political protests over Israel’s participation. Following the elimination of the Dutch representative, Israel appeared fifth tonight.
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Golan, as mentioned, appeared in the fifth slot of the evening. During the house singing in Hebrew, you could hear applause from the audience, but also loud boos. Despite this, she is still in second place in the betting charts. The 21-year-old Israeli representative, who in the last few days has suffered countless insults and threats, including demonstrable hostility from some of the other participants in the competition, was determined to represent Israel with honor – and did so in a big way.
In recent days, the betting sites have placed “Hurricane” in second place, but in recent days, Eden and her members of the delegation repeatedly experienced shameful incidents from pro-Palestinian elements, who tried to fail the young singer in every possible way. A huge demonstration burned outside the arena in Malmö, and in the hall itself there were boos and screams throughout the rehearsals and the performance before the judges on Friday.
Aden Golan at the Eurovision final (Photo: Reuters)
In the streets of Malmo, more than 10,000 pro-Palestinian activists were able to call for the exclusion and boycott of Israel from the competition. This alongside a fairly small group of protesters who demonstrated the right of the Israeli candidate Aden Golan to participate in the competition, and after the growing “boos” during the performance of the song “Hurricane”, which inevitably brought the competition into the arena of political conflict.
Some of the protesters presented a moral problem, since Russia was banned by the European Union from participating in Eurovision 2022, after the broadcasters voted to exclude it from the competition due to its invasion of Ukraine, while Israel was not.
However and in spite of everything, Golan managed to qualify for second place in the betting tables and be a high potential and candidate leading to winning the competition. The list of favorites to win includes first the Croatian “Baby Lasagna”, which goes by the name Marko Purisicwith the song Rim Tim Tagi Dim, followed by other notable candidates, including the Swiss rapper and singer Nemo With the song The Code and other countries, such as: France, Holland, Italy, Ukraine and Ireland that star in the top ten.
“Of course people want to express their opinions, but for us it’s just a dream and an honor to be part of Eurovision. We didn’t focus on it too much and we just know that Eurovision is about uniting people,” he told Reuters Marcus Gunnersenfrom the duo Markus and Martinus that represents Sweden.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation “Kaan” ordered the score presenter Maya ulcolumbara to remove the kidnapper pin she planned to wear, for fear of live sanctions. The instruction came against the background of the European Broadcasting Union’s request to avoid provocations.
