Israel qualified for Saturday’s final of the Eurovision music contest in Malmo, Sweden, where thousands of people demonstrated against this country’s participation in the competition amid the war in Gaza, reports AFP on Friday.
The young artist Eden Golan secured her place in the final on Thursday with the song “Hurricane”, whose initial version had to be modified because it alluded to the attack by the Islamist group Hamas that bloodied Israel on October 7.
Israel thus joins the group of 26 countries that will compete on Saturday to succeed Sweden at the top of this competition watched by tens of millions of viewers every year.
“I am very grateful to everyone who voted for us and supported us,” said the 20-year-old singer from Israel.
“It is truly an honor to be here, on stage, to sing and show our voice, to present ourselves with pride”, she emphasized.
Israel has been participating in Eurovision since 1973, winning the contest for the fourth time in 2018.
On Friday, the country was among the two favorites to win the final, after Croatia, ahead of Switzerland, according to data compiled by Oddschecker.com bookmakers.
Before the semi-final, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Eden Golan, his country’s candidate, “has already won”.
“You compete proudly and in an admirable manner at Eurovision and, moreover, manage to successfully face a horrific wave of anti-Semitism,” the official said in a video message to the singer.
Almost 12,000 people demonstrated in Malmo on Thursday against Israel’s participation, expressing their indignation at the war in Gaza. Another rally is planned for Saturday.
“This year we are boycotting completely,” said Cecilia Brudell, 31 years old, who was in the crowd that also included environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
However, the performance of the song “Hurricane” by Eden Golan went without problems, on Thursday evening, in front of the 9,000 spectators at the Malmo Arena, excited by the competition.
Inside the hall, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees the competition, banned, as usual, all flags other than those of the participants and all political messages.
Security has also been increased both at Malmo Arena and the rest of this southern Swedish city, which is home to the country’s largest community of Palestinian origin and where Palestinian flags stand alongside brightly colored pennants.
“The EBU is taking all the necessary precautions to make this place a safe and united area for everyone,” Eden Golan, who was the subject of threats on social networks, said after the semi-final.
The neutrality of the music contest was shaken on Tuesday, during the first semi-final, by the Swedish singer Eric Saade, who wore a Palestinian keffiyeh.
A gesture regretted by the EBU and the Swedish public television SVT, which claims the apolitical character of this popular event.
Last year, the EBU banned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from speaking at the competition.
This year, the conflict in Ukraine has been overshadowed by the war in Gaza, which began on October 7, when Hamas commandos carried out an attack on Israel that killed more than 1,170 people – mostly civilians – according to a tally by AFP based on official Israeli data. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 128 are still held captive in Gaza, of whom 36 are said to have died, according to the army.
In response, the Israeli military launched an offensive in Gaza that has so far claimed 34,904 lives, most of them civilians, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas government.
“There must be demonstrations, people must express their opinions, people must boycott,” said Magnus Bormark, Norway’s candidate with his Gate group, who, like eight other participants, publicly called for a ceasefire from duration.
The police received reinforcements from all over Sweden, but also from Denmark and Norway, to ensure the security of the contest.
While Sweden raised the alert level last year after acts of desecration of the Koran, “there is no threat directed against Eurovision”, assured Jimmy Modin, a police spokesman.
For fans – the city expects up to 100,000 visitors on Saturday – “what’s important is what’s on stage: the developments, the artists and the music, not the politics”, said the professor of the history of ideas Andreas Onnerfors, a specialist in Eurovision.
Almost seventy years old, this contest, which in 2023 was watched by 162 million viewers, is “a demonstration of European tolerance, which cannot be found in any other form or in any other place”, a he pointed out.
However, some members of Malmo’s Jewish community plan to leave the city this weekend.
“With Eurovision, there is a kind of intensification. The feeling of insecurity increased after October 7, many Jews are worried,” explained a spokesman, Fredrik Sieradzki.
According to him, however, the numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations were not followed by actions aimed at the Jews of the city.
However, security around the synagogue has been beefed up, and on Thursday a pro-Israel demonstration was surrounded by heavily armed police.
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