{"id":41706,"date":"2026-05-14T09:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/41706\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:23:13","slug":"vienna-cafe-adds-israeli-flavors-to-its-menu-amid-tensions-at-eurovision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/41706\/","title":{"rendered":"Vienna caf\u00e9 adds Israeli flavors to its menu amid tensions at Eurovision"},"content":{"rendered":"

VIENNA (AP) \u2014 Vienna\u2019s famed coffeehouses have embraced the Eurovision Song Contest.<\/a> They have also been touched by tensions over Israel\u2019s inclusion<\/a> in the sequin-drenched pop music competition.<\/p>\n

When officials announced a list of \u201cEurofan Cafes\u201d \u2014 Vienna coffee shops offering food and music from competing countries \u2014 Israel was initially left out.<\/p>\n

MQ Kantine, a modern caf\u00e9 in the city\u2019s arty museums quarter, offered to step in. Now it has falafel, bagels with lox and kosher wine on the menu, a string of small Israeli flags hanging from the ceiling \u2014 and a police officer outside the door.<\/p>\n

Security is tight across Vienna during the international music contest, whose \u201cUnited by Music\u201d slogan rings sightly hollow this year. Five countries are boycotting because Israel is taking part. Pro-Palestinian activists are planning a protest concert \u2014 one of several Eurovision alternatives<\/a> across Europe \u2014 and an anti-Israel march before Saturday\u2019s grand final.<\/p>\n

At MQ Kantine, volunteers take turns to monitor for potential trouble. But so far the mood has been supportive, said Daniel Kapp, a PR consultant and pro-Israel campaigner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful,\u201d he said, as people drank coffee and beer on the caf\u00e9 terrace in the spring sunshine, though he noted that the police officer on duty showed that all is \u201cnot entirely normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy feeling is that Austria to a certain degree has learned from its history,\u201d Kapp said, referring to the deadly antisemitism under the Nazis before and during World War II. \u201cWhich is why the support for Israel is a lot more normal than it is in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel has competed in Eurovision for more than 50 years, and won four times. But its participation has been contested since it launched a war in Gaza<\/a> after 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the territory\u2019s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government and whose detailed records are viewed as generally reliable by the international community.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s government has repeatedly defended its campaign as a response to the Oct. 7 attack. But a number of experts, including those commissioned by a United Nations body, have said that Israel\u2019s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel, home to many Holocaust survivors and their relatives, has vigorously denied the claim.<\/p>\n

The latest Israel-Hezbollah<\/a> war in Lebanon and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran<\/a> have driven tensions still higher.<\/p>\n

The 2024 Eurovision contest in Malmo, Sweden<\/a>, and last year\u2019s event in Basel, Switzerland<\/a>, saw pro-Palestinian protests<\/a> that called for Israel to be expelled. Five countries \u2014 Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia<\/a> and Spain \u2014 pulled out of the 2026 contest after organizers allowed Israel to compete.<\/p>\n

Partying amid tight security<\/p>\n

The tensions have produced a Eurovision of two halves. An upbeat party atmosphere prevails inside the Wiener Stadthalle arena and in the separate Eurovision Village fan zone. But getting in means passing through a ring of steel, with searches, scanners and a ban on all bags inside the arena. Armed police are a very visible presence on the streets.<\/p>\n

Awareness of risk from terror plots is high in the city after a 21-year-old Austrian man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group pleaded guilty to plotting to attack a Taylor Swift concert<\/a> in Vienna in 2024.<\/p>\n

Israeli singer Noam Bettan told Israeli media that, like last year\u2019s Israeli competitor Yuval Raphael, he practiced performing while being booed. There were scattered shouts amid the cheers when he performed in the first Eurovision semifinal on Tuesday<\/a>. He secured a spot in Saturday\u2019s final by being one of the top 10 finishers in voting by viewers and national juries.<\/p>\n

Organizers said four people were removed from the 10,000-strong audience for disruptive behavior.<\/p>\n

Austrian Eurovision fan Ivo Herzl, who attended the semifinal, said \u201cthe vibe was incredibly positive.\u201d He is showing support for Israel by making and selling Mazel Lov T-shirts \u2014 a play on \u201cmazel tov,\u201d a Hebrew and Yiddish phrase of congratulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cVienna has always been a city of tolerance,\u201d Herzl said. \u201cIt\u2019s the city of music and we\u2019ll always do everything possible for everyone to enjoy a musical event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Israeli fans said they were reassured by the tight security. Oz Yona, attending his first Eurovision, said he had experienced \u201cno hate\u201d and felt Austria took antisemitism seriously.<\/p>\n

He came with friends to cheer for Israel, though he was not optimistic about Bettan\u2019s chances \u2014 for musical rather than political reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he will win,\u201d Yona said. \u201cFinland is better this year. Greece is better this year. We have a good song, but not a winning song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birgitta Peterson and Kristina Nilsson, who wear matching pink bomber jackets and call themselves The Swedish Ladies, love to explore new cities and meet up each year with their \u201cEurovision family\u201d of fellow fans. They plan to wave Israeli flags at Saturday\u2019s final, after Swedish contestant Felicia said earlier this year that she didn\u2019t think Israel should be in the contest.<\/p>\n

They say tensions over Israel have divided a fan community long known for its friendliness and embrace of diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wounds are very deep at the moment,\u201d Nilsson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis event should really be about \u2018united by music\u2019 and happiness,\u201d she added. \u201cThat\u2019s what Eurovision is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VIENNA (AP) \u2014 Vienna\u2019s famed coffeehouses have embraced the Eurovision Song Contest. They have also been touched by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20858],"tags":[2937,636,13448,26564,26563,231,310,4,20859,20860,309,6871,299,145,8514,26565,26562,25141,21215,13402,393,25238,20865,314,21253],"class_list":{"0":"post-41706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eurovision","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","10":"tag-austria-government","11":"tag-birgitta-peterson","12":"tag-daniel-kapp","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-eurocopa-2024","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-eurovision","17":"tag-eurovision-song-contest-2026","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-hamas","20":"tag-iran-war","21":"tag-israel","22":"tag-israel-government","23":"tag-ivo-herzl","24":"tag-kristina-nilsson","25":"tag-mideast-wars","26":"tag-noam-bettan","27":"tag-palestinian-territories-government","28":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","29":"tag-taylor-swift","30":"tag-vienna","31":"tag-world-news","32":"tag-yuval-raphael"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}