Despite Anti-Israel Chants in Arena, Israel’s Noam Bettan Advances to Eurovision Final
Israel’s Noam Bettan qualified on Tuesday night, May 12, for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, after his semifinal performance garnered him enough points to advance. Bettan performed “Michelle” in French, Hebrew and English over the sounds of “Stop the genocide” chanting in the Wiener Stadthalle in the Austrian capital, which could be heard on the live broadcast at the start of the song. Austrian public broadcaster ORF had said it would not use anti-booing technology during the show.
Eurovision organizers said on Wednesday, May 13, that the heckler in question was removed from the audience by security “for continuing to disturb the audience,” while three others were also removed from the arena “for disruptive behavior.” “I heard the boos, but quickly afterward, I heard calls from people on our side who were making noise and lifting me up,” Bettan said in a video message shortly after the performance. At one point toward the end of the song, when singing the Hebrew line “someone who will hear me,” Bettan said: “I was just singing to Israel — it sounds like such a cliche, but I was singing to Israel, and I felt it on every level.”
The qualifiers from Tuesday evening will compete on Saturday night, May 16, against the “Big Four” countries — France, Germany, Italy and the UK — as well as the 10 qualifiers from Thursday night’s semifinal, and host country Austria. This year’s Eurovision, the 70th edition of the annual song contest, has been shadowed in controversy over Israel’s participation. Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands led a push to remove Israel from the contest, and when they were unsuccessful in doing so, quit in protest, leaving just 35 nations in the competition — the largest boycott in Eurovision history.
(TOI/VFI News)
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