Israel qualified for the final of the 68th edition of one of the most popular song contests in the world - "Eurovision", amid anti-Israel protests at the venue - the Swedish city of Malmö, BTA reported.
Television viewers sent forward the 20-year-old Israeli representative Eden Golan and her song "Hurricane".
Organizers had asked Israel to change the lyrics of the song it was running with, whose original title was October Rain, an allusion to the attack by the radical Palestinian group Hamas. since October 7 last year, during which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 250 were kidnapped. This attack triggered Israel's advance into the Gaza Strip.
The title of the song was eventually changed to "Hurricane" and the Israeli performer was allowed to remain in the race.
Yesterday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined the multi-thousand pro-Palestinian protest against Israel's participation in "Eurovision", Reuters reported.
Golan was congratulated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "You are not only representing Israel at "Eurovision" in a proud and impressive way, but you are also successfully competing with the ugly wave of anti-Semitism," the Prime Minister said.
This year the competition is held in the hall "Malmö Arena", whose capacity for concerts is 15,500 spectators.
The Swiss artist Nemo, who is considered the favorite for the first place with his song "The Code" (The Code), as well as Joost Klein from the Netherlands - with his playful pop-rap song Europapa, and the band "Gothe" from Norway with the folk-style piece Ulveham.
Greece, Austria, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia and Estonia also qualified for tomorrow night's second semi-final. The final will also host Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Cyprus, Finland, France, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine.
This year, Bulgaria is not participating in the “Eurovision” song contest.