Israel’s Noam Bettan Advances in Eurovision Song Contest Amid Protests

Israeli performer Noam Bettan advanced in the annual Eurovision Song Contest as tensions mounted over his country’s participation, with protesters shouting “stop the genocide” and reportedly delaying the beginning of his performance.

Bettan was set to start his performance of the song “Michelle” when several audience members booed and shouted anti-Israel sentiments, while others chanted Bettan’s name in support. Organizers for Eurovision said that a few of the disruptive attendees were removed from the arena, and their shouts were edited out of the performance clip posted by Eurovision online.

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This year’s Eurovision Song Contest, branded with the tagline “United by Music,” has entered its final phase following yesterday’s semi-final presentation, but Israel’s participation in the competition has generated protracted controversy and division among participating nations.

In the lead-up to the Contest, five countries – Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands — withdrew, pointing to Israel’s conduct during its war in Gaza as the reason. Ireland, which last won the contest in 1996 and announced its withdrawal last September, said it would be airing the beloved sitcom “Father Ted” instead of the Contest’s conclusion on Saturday.

José Pablo López, president of the Spanish broadcaster RTVE, explained his country’s withdrawal from the contest last September. “It is not accurate to claim that Eurovision is merely an apolitical music festival. We are all aware that the contest carries significant political implications. The Israeli government is equally aware of this fact and leverages the event on the international stage.”

Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS also explained its withdrawal from the Contest, stating it “can no longer justify Israel’s participation in the current situation, given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza,” continuing: “Moreover, there is proven interference by the Israeli government during the last edition of the Song Contest, in which the event was used as a political instrument.”

The organization was referring to allegations of interference in the voting process by the Israeli government in last year’s Contest. “We saw some activity last year which we could describe as disproportionate marketing and promotional activity that we felt was out of sync with the nature of the show, so we put some rules in about that,” Eurovision Song Contest Director Martin Green told Reuters this week without directly referencing the allegations.

The director of the Contest, Martin Green, told the BBC today that it was watching the public voting tallies “very, very carefully.”

In 2022, the European Broadcasting Union, an umbrella of European broadcasters and the parent organization of the Contest, suspended Russia’s involvement following its initiation of the war in Ukraine. The EBU described the move as a “precedent,” but that “it’s not our role to make comparisons between conflicts,” Irish public broadcaster RTÉ reported.

The EBU canceled a planned vote over Israel’s participation in December.

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place between Greece (Akylas), Finland (Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen), Belgium (Essyla), Sweden (Felicia), Moldova (Satoshi), Israel (Noam Bettan), Serbia (Lavina), Croatia (Lelek), Lithuania (Lion Ceccah) and Poland (Alicja) competing for top honors.