By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MALMÖ/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged Israeli artist Eden Golan ahead of the second semifinal of Eurovision, the world’s largest televised song contest, after she was booed and faced with massive anti-Israel protests.
“You’re competing not just in the Eurovision in a proud and very impressive manner, but you are competing successfully in the face of an ugly wave of antisemitism — and you are standing up to it and representing the State of Israel with huge honor,” added Netanyahu in a video message.
The prime minister told Golan that “when they ‘boo’ you, we are shouting ‘hooray’ for you,” referencing the booing the Israeli singer has faced from audiences during the dress rehearsals this week.
He spoke as climate activist Greta Thunberg, wearing a Palestinian scarf, joined thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Eurovision 2024 host city Malmo on Thursday to protest Israel’s participation in the song contest ahead of this year’s second semi-final.
In a reaction, Israel’s Eurovision contestant said “nothing will deter” despite getting booed.
Eden Golan was performing her song Hurricane ahead of Thursday’s semi-final in Malmo, Sweden. In a statement, she said she was “proud to represent my country.”
ISRAEL ALLOWED TO COMPETE
There have been several campaigns to block Israel from taking part in this year’s contest following the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war.
However, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which hosted the event, ruled that Israel could compete.
Yet, Golan had to change her song Hurricane after the original track “October Rain” was deemed to be a reference to the October 7 attacks when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped hundreds.
Israel says the massacre, the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust, or Shoah, prompted it to start attacking sites in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry says since war broke out, about 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, but those figures have been difficult to verify. Protesters have accused Israel of “genocide,” charges Israel vehemently denies.
Despite the controversies, the deputy director general of the EBU, Jean Philip De Tender, said he was against a boycott of Israel at Eurovision.
EBU AGAINST POLITICAL DECISION
If you “exclude Kan (Israeli public broadcaster) outside of these competition rules, that would have been a political decision, as such, which we cannot take” because it considers itself as an apolitical organization, he said.
However, “We do understand the concerns and the deeply held views that many people have around the war in the Middle East, and I think nobody can remain untouched by the profound suffering of everybody involved in that war,” he added.
Yet life hasn’t been easy, with Golan’s team saying the 20-year-old has been confined to her hotel room after a series of threats against the Israeli delegation.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, which organizes the country’s Eurovision entry, complained to the EBU about the “booing and asked it to prevent a repeat of the incident.”
Eurovision organizers liaised with Swedish police to bring in reinforcements from Denmark and Norway, as massive protests were underway in the city ahead of Israel’s semi-final performance.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A Christian widow in Pakistan’s Punjab province is devastated after her married daughter went missing, while elsewhere in the region, a mother of four and a mother of six have also disappeared following alleged abductions by Muslim men, Worthy News learned Saturday.
South Korea, long seen as the democratic opposite of its authoritarian-ruled northern neighbor, faces growing scrutiny for what critics call a widening crackdown on Christian leaders and churches.
Hungary’s prime minister told U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Friday that it would take a miracle for Ukraine to win the war against Russia. Viktor Orbán made the remarks at the White House, where Trump asked him during a joint news conference about the prospects for Kyiv’s victory.
Hungarian prosecutors have requested a two-year suspended prison sentence for Gábor Iványi, a 76-year-old Methodist pastor, once a close confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and several opposition politicians, in a case widely viewed as politically charged.
In a decision that could reshape federal identification standards, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to enforce its policy requiring Americans to list their biological sex–male or female–on passports, rather than self-identified gender.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R–S.D.) told Republican senators Thursday to prepare for a critical Friday vote aimed at ending the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown — now in its sixth week — as lawmakers scramble to reach a deal amid growing economic strain and partisan stalemate.
The Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected a Democratic resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Venezuela, marking the second failed attempt in as many months to rein in the administration’s campaign targeting Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels.