Israel’s Eurovision contestant, Noam Bettan, will compete in the 70th Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday night. His song “Michelle” was chosen in the first semifinal in Vienna on Tuesday night.
Bettan gave a dynamic, confident performance of the catchy song, surrounded by five female dancers. It was selected as one of the 10 songs out of 15 chosen to perform in the semifinals.
After the performance, an exuberant Bettan, dancing and wrapped in an Israeli flag, told KAN 11: “People of Israel, I am speaking to all the Jews around the world: Thank you very much. Thank you for all the love. When there were boos against us, it was nonsense; within a second, they were drowned out by something so much stronger, by humanity and by love, and that is what matters. We look at the good; we look at the light. I love you. Thank you very much for all the love. Am Yisrael Chai, truly. We will meet in the final, and I love you.”
Before the semifinal began, in a relaxed interview with KAN Eurovision commentators Akiva Novick and Asaf Liberman, Bettan said he and the backup dancers needed “the support of their people” to succeed.
In an earlier interview during the KAN 11 news broadcast, he said he wanted to “make Israelis proud, and to make Jews proud all over the world.”
He certainly did. Despite a mishap in one of the late rehearsals, when a camera collided with dancer Lihi Freud, Bettan and his dancers performed beautifully in this song about walking away from a maddening woman. The song was written by Nadav Aharoni and Tzlil Klifi, along with last year’s contestant, Yuval Raphael, and Bettan himself.
After performing, he thanked the crowd in the three languages he sings in the song: English, French, and Hebrew.
Israel's history of Eurovision semifinal success
Israel has been in every final since 2014, except for 2022, when Michael Ben-David failed to make it to the final round.
Last year, after Yuval Raphael’s song “New Day Will Rise” won the televote and finished second overall, several countries said Israel must have cheated. As a result, there were some rule changes instituted that were designed to make it more difficult for Israel to advance to the semifinals and to do well in the final.
Among these changes was that the national juries, which are far less friendly toward Israel than the audiences, now vote in the semifinals, and their votes make up 50% of the result.
Nevertheless, the rule changes were not enough for some countries that did not feel Israel should be allowed to compete. Spain, Slovenia, Holland, Iceland, and Ireland chose to boycott the competition, and Slovenia, Ireland, and Spain said they would not even broadcast it.
In the television broadcast, no boos were heard, but there seemed to be some jeering. BBC commentator Rylan Clark addressed the “controversy” on air and said Israel’s participation had led some countries to withdraw.
Following the performance, co-commentator Angela Scanlon said: “Some of the audience seemed to be giving their opinions on Israel’s continued participation.”
In place of Eurovision, Slovenia’s RTV aired a film series, Voices of Palestine. Spain’s RTVE aired a special, The House of Music. National Irish broadcaster RTÉ opted for particularly local content and showed Home of the Year Scotland, Father Ted, a cult Irish sitcom from the 1990s; and The Light in the Hall, a Welsh drama.
The Dutch and Icelandic public broadcasters were still broadcasting the competition even though their entries withdrew.
The upside of their absence was that the broadcast was shorter, not a small consideration in a competition with dozens of participants.
Eurovision is known for glitzy outfits and flashy production numbers, and at the first semifinal, the competitors did not disappoint.
Bettan wore head-to-toe black leather, while his backup dancers wore brown-and-white leather body suits and white leather boots.
Part of “Michelle” is performed inside a large, diamond-like structure.
Finland’s Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen, who were leading in all the betting platforms, gave a well-received performance of their song “Liekinheitin.” Lampenius played violin while surrounded by pyrotechnics. It was the first time in 27 years that a performer had received permission to play an instrument live on stage, according to Novick and Lieberman.
Greece, which placed second in most of the betting platforms, featured the artist Akylas performing the song “Ferto.” It seemed like an ’80s music video, with the singer dressed as a tiger.