Singer Aden Golan, President Yitzhak (Boji) Herzog and his wife, Michal Herzog/video: photographer Avi Kaner, recorder Uri Bozaglo; Stills: Haim Tzach, CEO
After a rather long period of time in which the Israeli Eurovision song "Hurricane" was in ninth place in the betting charts for winning Eurovision - it climbed to eighth place yesterday. It is not impossible that the increase in the betting tables happened thanks to the sympathy that Israel received after it was attacked by Iran on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
At the same time, an Instagram page that publishes content related to Eurovision published the 10 most viewed songs on the official Eurovision YouTube. In first place - and by a huge margin above all others - is the Dutch song with 18 million views, in second place - the Swedish song with 4.5 million views, and in third place - Eden Golan with "Hurricane" with 4.1 million.
Last week, the European Broadcasting Union, which is responsible for the production of the Eurovision Song Contest, published an unusual announcement regarding Israel's participation in the contest against the backdrop of the Gaza war. In the announcement, he made it clear that the decision on the participation of candidates in the competition is in the hands of the European Broadcasting Union alone and not in the hands of other contestants, and expressed a clear opposition to the abuse or harassment of contestants, on or off the network. The publication of the message may have been influenced by the threats directed at Israel's Eurovision representative Aden Golan, as revealed in Walla! Celebs, or the severe terrorist attack in Moscow in March and the growing fear of terrorist threats at Eurovision.
In a statement they published on the networks, it was written: "The European Broadcasting Union recognizes the strong emotions that this year's Eurovision contest evoked and the tense debate that resulted from Israel's participation. We want to emphasize that any decision regarding participation is the responsibility of the governing bodies of the European Broadcasting Union, and not of individual artists."
"We strongly oppose any form of abuse or harassment directed at participants, online or offline, and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful and inclusive environment. We advocate constructive dialogue and support for artists, who emphasize the competition's mission to unite through music."
This month, the pre-Eurovision events opened, in the framework of which many artists from the participating countries will perform in Europe, some of them do not hesitate to appear with the red pin that calls for a ceasefire, but forget to wear the yellow ribbon that demands the return of all the abductees. In the past, Israel also hosted similar mini-Eurovision events as part of "ISRAEL CALLING". This year Israel is not hosting anyone and is not invited to be hosted anywhere.
The exclusion of Israel is manifested in part by the fact that the production of the events surrounding the Eurovision week in the Eurovision village asked DJs participating in the parties not to play Israeli Eurovision songs "for security reasons". Earlier, the National Security Council published the travel warnings for Israelis abroad, which included a reference to the Eurovision Song Contest.
At the end of last month, representatives of nine countries that will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest published a joint declaration in which they referred to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The representatives - from Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Great Britain, Denmark, San Marino, Lithuania and Finland - called for an immediate ceasefire and the return of the abductees to Israel. The petition was initiated by the British pop star Oli Alexander, who represented Great Britain in the European singing competition.