Noam Bettan, Israel’s Eurovision contestant, will compete in the 70th Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday night, after 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, and it was selected as one of the 10 songs out of 15 that were performed in the semifinal that will advance to the final.
Now, Bettan will go on to compete on May 16 in the final.
After the performance, an exuberant Bettan, dancing and wrapped in an Israeli flag, spoke to KAN 11, saying, "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 Israel 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 that he and the backup dancers needed “the support of their people” in order to succeed, and in an earlier interview during the KAN 11 news broadcast, he said that he wanted not only, “To make Israelis proud, and to make Jews proud all over the world.”
And he certainly did. Despite a mishap in one of the late rehearsals in which 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. But after Yuval Raphael’s success with the song, “New Day Will Rise” last year, when she won the televote and finished second overall, a number of countries alleged Israel must have cheated, and so 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.
Key among these changes was the fact that the national juries, which are far less friendly toward Israel than audiences, now vote in the semifinals, and their votes make up 50% of the result.
But the rule changes weren’t enough for some countries that did not feel Israel should be allowed to compete at all, and five countries, Spain, Slovenia, Holland, Iceland, and Ireland chose to boycott the competition, and Slovenia, Ireland, and Spain announced they would not even broadcast the competition.
While in the television broadcast, no boos were heard; apparently, there was some jeering. The BBC's commentator Rylan Clark addressed the "controversy" on air, saying that Israel's participation led other countries to withdraw. Following the performance, co-commentator Angela Scanlon said that "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. RTVE in Spain is stuck with music, showing 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 90s - and The Light in the Hall, a Welsh drama.
The Dutch and Icelandic public broadcasters are still screening the competition despite their countries having withdrawn from competing.
But the upside of their absence was the fact that the broadcast was shorter, not a small consideration in a competition with dozens of participants.
The competition 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 lead in all the betting tables, gave a well-received performance of their song, "Liekinheitin,” with Linda Lampenius playing violin, surrounded by pyrotechnics. It was the first time in 27 years that a performer got permission to play an instrument live on stage, according to Novick and Lieberman, and
Greece, which placed second in most betting tables, featured the artist Akylas performing the song “Ferto” in a number that seemed like an 80s music video, with the singer dressed as a tiger.
The second semifinal will take place on May 14. Both the second semifinal and the final will be broadcast in Israel on KAN 11.
People anywhere in the world can vote for their favorites (for a small fee) on www.esc.vote