“It really feels like a great mission, to give people light, simply light and love,” said Noam Bettan, 28, who will be representing Israel on the evening of May 12 at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, performing the song “Michelle” in the first semifinal.
There has been a huge controversy that has nothing to do with music around Israel’s participation this year, but Bettan, who has been a professional singer for years, has remained calm in the eye of the storm. This charming, charismatic young crooner has not lost his focus since winning the Next Star for Eurovision Contest in January, and he spoke to The Jerusalem Post before he left for Austria with the rest of the Israeli delegation, led by KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster.
“I am very focused on what I am supposed to do right now. Everything else, for me, is background noise. I am trying very, very hard just to concentrate on rehearsals, to give it everything I have, to work as hard as I can, and to maintain a healthy mentality,” Bettan said.
“I’m not alone. I’m surrounded by an amazing team. There is KAN’s delegation, there are my managers, who have been with me for eight years and know me from head to toe, and there is the team from The Next Star. We are all in one kind of supportive framework, and I feel as strong as I possibly can. They help me simply disconnect from everything else and make music.”
Noam Bettan with dancers at a recent rehearsal. (credit: Alma Bengtson/Courtesy of EBU)The war was only part of what Bettan had to contend with
It’s hard to imagine any contestant who has ever had so much baggage weighing down on him as he prepared for a competition. First of all, he had to rehearse for five weeks amid missile attacks during the period of the Operation Roaring Lion war. But the war did not have a big impact on him, he said: “We did a lot of rehearsals, and we continued everything as usual… I have sung the song about a million times, and I will sing it another five million times. We are giving it everything we’ve got and preparing well.”
But the war was only part of what Bettan had to contend with. During the last few months, five countries – Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain – have withdrawn from the competition because Israel is participating, after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision, declined to hold a vote on ejecting Israel.
But Bettan, who was born to a family of French immigrants and grew up in Ra’anana, said that nothing would stop him from doing his best work. The soft-spoken star with a megawatt smile said he took his participation in the song contest very seriously. “I think it is an incredible privilege to represent the country… When I hear music, I feel freedom, and I have this opportunity to give that to as many people as possible on a stage like this, one that includes hundreds of millions of people watching it around the world. It’s amazing.”
The Eurovision Song Contest was created after World War II to give nations a chance to compete peacefully, and Israel is one of several countries from outside Europe to take part. Israel began participating in it in 1973 and won in 1978, 1979, 1998, and 2018.
Israelis support their Eurovision contestants with great enthusiasm, which has only intensified during the difficulties of the past few years. Eden Golan came in fifth overall and second in the popular vote, performing “Hurricane” in 2024, a haunting song that was staged to remind audiences of the massacre by Hamas of nearly 400 at the Nova Musical Festival on October 7, 2024. Yuval Raphael, a survivor of that massacre, represented Israel last year, with the song, “New Day Will Rise.” She won the televote and came in second overall.
Clearly, Eurovision audiences have embraced Israel’s contestants, which did not sit well with many European public broadcasters and artists, who made their displeasure at Israel’s success and continued participation known. In addition to asking for Israel to be banned, they accused Israel of winning the popular vote by cheating. The evidence for the alleged cheating were media posts by Israel promoting Raphael, something that several other countries did. The EBU investigated the allegations and found no wrongdoing.
KAN released a statement about how Israel fought back: “At the EBU assembly in Geneva, where KAN’s CEO, Golan Yochpaz, and the corporation’s representative to the EBU, Adv. Ayala Mizrahi, represented KAN at a crucial and tense discussion, which ultimately led to Israel staying in Eurovision. During the session that took place after few months of an intense campaign organized to oppose Israel’s participation, attended by dozens of delegates from member states, Yochpaz said that the attempt to remove KAN from the contest can only be understood as a cultural boycott and a harmful decision for freedom of creation and freedom of expression…KAN’s success in staying part of the Eurovision followed an extensive and significant preparatory process conducted by Yochpaz and Mizrachi, who have been fighting extensively against the boycott attempts on Israel for the past two years.”
Noam Bettan, representing Israel attends the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest’s ‘Turquoise Carpet’ event in Vienna, Austria, May 10, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/LISA LEUTNER)Bettan shows off his linguistic ability by singing in French, Hebrew, and English
Despite the uproar, Bettan was upbeat about the upcoming event, speaking about how positively fans around the world have reacted to the music video that was released recently for “Michelle”: “It’s crazy that people from all over the world are reacting to it. It’s wild to see that, and it’s amazing to see how much love it is getting along the way. It’s really fun. I’m really moved that people are seeing it.”
In contrast to the previous two songs Israel sent to Eurovision, “Michelle” is an up-tempo tune about a man leaving a woman who has been driving him crazy. In both the music video and the live performance, which has been glimpsed ahead of the competition in rehearsals, Bettan performs the number accompanied by female dancers in sexy outfits, and it’s an exuberant, catchy tune. Bettan shows off his linguistic ability by singing in French, Hebrew, and English, which he said was not difficult for him.
“I have sung in Hebrew and in French before, yes, but this is the first time I am singing three languages in one song. There is an opportunity here to reach as many people as possible, as many audiences as possible. So English, I feel, is something important here, and on the other hand, there is French, which is my home and half of my heart, and there is Hebrew, which is the country I am representing…The creators of the song did an amazing job with the way the languages flow together so beautifully. Nadav Aharoni and Tzlil Klifi took the opportunity to bring together the lyrics, and they created an amazing and intelligent song that contains so many good things.” Yuval Raphael and Bettan himself are also credited on the song.
Gossip columns and social media in Israel have been working overtime to try to figure out who the song is based on. When I asked Bettan if he had a particular woman in mind, he replied, “I think each of us has had some kind of toxic relationship, or something a little toxic in life, whether it is romantic or not. The main message of the song is learning, in the end, to choose yourself. Even though there is love, and even though your body wants to be there, you understand that for a moment, you have to choose yourself, even if it means it will hurt…Each person will take it to their own place, to their own world, by the way they interpret it.”
Bettan said that the fun vibe of “Michelle” was the perfect song for this complicated moment. “I can tell you that from the moment I appeared on The Next Star, I spoke with people, whether on social media, on the street, in every possible situation. And if there is one very clear thing I felt, it is that everyone wants to be happy, everyone wants to dance, everyone wants to move. I know it’s not the kind of song Israel has sent very much in recent years… I like making people happy and making people dance, touching their hearts, and also making them forget for a moment what they have in their heads and switch off that inner noise for a moment. I think this song contains all of that.”
If Bettan makes it to the final, he will perform “Michelle” again on May 16. Eurovision is broadcast in Israel on KAN 11.
His manager said he had to go, but Bettan wanted to share one last thought: “I worked my butt off to get here – excuse my language — and hard work pays off. I’m from a generation that wants everything, all of it, instantly, but there is a road you have to travel, and that is important. So, I want to say to all the young people reading this: Go on your path, don’t despair, and be patient. In the end, it will happen, with God’s help.”