{"id":111469,"date":"2026-05-13T08:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/111469\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T08:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:54:27","slug":"despite-anti-israel-chants-in-arena-israels-noam-bettan-advances-to-eurovision-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/111469\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite anti-Israel chants in arena, Israel’s Noam Bettan advances to Eurovision final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel\u2019s Noam Bettan qualified on Tuesday night for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, after his semifinal performance garnered him enough points to advance.<\/p>\n

Bettan performed \u201cMichelle\u201d in French, Hebrew and English over the sounds of \u201cStop the genocide\u201d chanting in the Wiener Stadthalle in the Austrian capital, which could be heard on the live broadcast at the start of the song. Austrian public broadcaster ORF had said it would not use anti-booing technology during the show.<\/p>\n

According to the local \u00d6sterreich newspaper, two people who were interrupting the broadcast were physically removed from the arena by security.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the boos, but quickly afterward, I heard calls from people on our side who were making noise and lifting me up,\u201d Bettan said in a video message shortly after the performance. \u201cAnd it immediately lifted my spirits and warmed my heart. It filled me up, it gave me strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettan told The Times of Israel<\/a> in an interview last month that he had been practicing to the sounds of booing in order to be prepared.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThank you so much, toda raba,\u201d he said on stage after completing the song. \u201cThank you Europe, I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05d9 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9\u05de\u05e2 ????????????
\u05e0\u05d5\u05e2\u05dd \u05d1\u05ea\u05df \u05d1\u05d1\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05e2 \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05dc #Michelle<\/a> \u05de\u05d7\u05e6\u05d9 \u05d2\u05de\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05d6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df 2026 \u05d1\u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 ???????? pic.twitter.com\/Kvfhdk8fHN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u05db\u05d0\u05df (@kann) May 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with Israel, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania and Poland also advanced to Saturday\u2019s grand final. That means\u00a0Portugal, Georgia, Montenegro, Estonia and San Marino have been cut from the competition.\n<\/p>\n

The results were decided by a combination of jury votes and public votes from each country. The European Broadcasting Union does not release the full breakdown until after the grand final.<\/p>\n

Bettan and dancer Lihi Freud began the song inside an enormous diamond-shaped stage prop, which opened up, allowing them to emerge and join four other backup dancers on stage for the rest of the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel incredible, what a performance it was,\u201d Bettan said in a video message after exiting the stage. \u201cI enjoyed myself so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point toward the end of the song, when singing the Hebrew line \u201csomeone who will hear me,\u201d Bettan said: \u201cI was just singing to Israel \u2014 it sounds like such a cliche, but I was singing to Israel, and I felt it on every level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tNoam Bettan from Israel performs the song \u2018Michelle\u2019 during the first semifinal of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, May 12, 2026. (Alma Bengtsson\/EBU)<\/p>\n

The qualifiers from Tuesday evening will compete Saturday night against the \u201cBig Four\u201d countries \u2014 France, Germany, Italy and the UK \u2014 as well as the 10 qualifiers from Thursday night\u2019s semifinal, and host country Austria.<\/p>\n

This year, the Eurovision brought back the professional jury votes in the semifinal rounds, as part of a package of reforms<\/a> agreed to by members last year to address concerns raised after Israel\u2019s runaway televote win in 2025.<\/p>\n

The semifinal rounds were decided 50\/50 by the jury and public votes until 2023, when the juries were scrapped in the early rounds and kept only for the grand final. This year, in addition to the return of semifinal juries, votes have been capped at 10 per person instead of 20, and the EBU promised to crack down on \u201cdisproportionate promotion campaigns,\u201d especially those funded by governments.<\/p>\n

The EBU on Saturday sent a direct warning<\/a> to Israel over an ad campaign featuring Bettan in a number of languages calling for people to vote for him 10 times, saying it was \u201cnot in line with our rules nor the spirit of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kan quickly pulled the campaign from social media and maintained that it had not broken any rules of the competition.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIsrael fans wave flags prior to the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, May 12, 2026. (Tobias SCHWARZ \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Eurovision, the 70th edition of the annual song contest, has been shadowed in controversy over Israel\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n

Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands led a push to kick Israel out of the contest, and when they were unsuccessful in doing so, quit in protest, leaving just 35 nations in the competition \u2014 the largest boycott in Eurovision history.<\/p>\n

A small anti-Israel protest was held in central Vienna on Tuesday evening. Only around a dozen people appeared to be in attendance at the event, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Austria group.<\/p>\n

The protesters chanted \u201cNo stage for genocide\u201d and held up signs calling for Israel to be barred from the competition. The activists also arranged a number of small fake coffins with photos of children on them to represent children killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Larger anti-Israel protests are slated for both Friday and Saturday in Vienna, with at least hundreds of participants expected. A small pro-Israel protest is also expected in the city on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tAn activist holds a Palestinian flag to protest against the participation of Israel ahead the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest, Vienna, Austria, on May 12, 2026. (Radek MICA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Last year, Israel\u2019s Yuval Raphael \u2014 who co-wrote \u201cMichelle\u201d \u2014 finished second overall after coming first in the televote, with \u201cNew Day Will Rise.\u201d In 2024, Eden Golan finished fifth overall and second in the televote with \u201cHurricane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel has won the competition four times since it began competing in the Eurovision in 1973 \u2014 in 1978 with \u201cA-Ba-Ni-Bi,\u201d 1979 with \u201cHallelujah,\u201d 1998 with \u201cDiva\u201d and 2018 with \u201cToy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bookmakers have predicted that Finland will take the top prize this year, followed by Greece and then Denmark. Israel is predicted to finish in sixth place, although the odds were wrong about the winner for the past two years.<\/p>\n


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