Israel will finally have representation in the Eurovision Song Contest. The public broadcaster KAN has announced that the European Broadcasting Union (EU) has given the green light to the Hebrew candidacy, and therefore, will be on stage at the Malm Arena in Sweden next May 12. The organization has accepted the song Hurricanethe third proposal from the country Israel, who received up to two noes for including political allusions in the lyrics of Dancing Forever y October Rainperformed by local artist Eden Golan.
The new version of this songwho meets the necessary and essential criteria to participate, maintains the same melody as the previous proposal, although the content has been completely rewritten to avoid a new deprecation. A decision that has occurred a few days before the closing of the deadline to present the candidacies before the EBU, which ended this Monday, March 11.
Iceland, close to withdrawing its candidacy
The official website of the contest has included Hurricane along with the rest of the candidates. This song, which has been composed by Keren Pels, Avi Ohion and Stav Begar, It will be heard for the first time next Sunday, March 10, at 9:30 p.m., in a program on the public network.
Israel’s presence at Eurovision raised a range of criticisms against the EBU. The organization always camouflaged itself in the decision to keep Israel alongside the rest of the candidates despite its conflict with Palestine. A position that unleashed the discomfort of several deputies of the European Parliamentwho requested the expulsion of Israel for whitewash a regime that is carrying out ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
Iceland could be the only candidate of the other 36 countries to withdraw its proposal for Israel’s participation in the contest. The public network, which has not confirmed its winner in the preselection, Hera Bjrk, the option of announcing his goodbye to the competition is saved. The country’s public opinion passed judgment after a survey indicated that 76% of the population was against Israel being in the Swedish city.
