Israel is among the ten countries that this Thursday guaranteed passage to the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled for Saturday in Malmö, Sweden, thus maintaining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the contest.
When the Israeli representative took the stage, during the second semi-final of the 68th edition of the competition, whistling was heard, particularly in the initial part of the performance of ‘Hurricane’. On Wednesday, at rehearsals, which, like the semi-finals and final, are open to the public, Israel’s representative, Eden Golan, had been booed by some of those present.
In the second semi-final, 16 songs competed for the last ten places available in the final. In addition to Israel, they also managed to get a place in the final: Latvia, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Georgia and Armenia. Today, the following were left out of the final: Malta, Albania, Czech Republic, Denmark, San Marino and Belgium.
The ten chosen today join many others chosen in the first semi-final, which took place on Tuesday: Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia, Ireland and Luxembourg. In the final, the 20 countries selected in the two semi-finals are joined in competition by the so-called ‘Big Five’ (France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and Italy) and the host country.
During the afternoon, thousands of people walked the streets of Malmö calling for Israel’s expulsion from the Eurovision Song Contest, because of the offensive carried out by that country in the Gaza Strip. According to the Spanish agency EFE, the protest, which began at 4pm local time (3pm in Lisbon), was called by the platform Stop Israel, for peace and for free Palestine, which brings together more than 60 organizations.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Iolanda appeared on the ‘turquoise runway’ (where representatives from all countries parade, thus marking the beginning of the competition’s live shows), in Malmö, wearing a dress from a Palestinian brand and her nails painted. with the pattern of the ‘keffiyeh’, a scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
On Tuesday, the conflict was brought to the stage, during the opening number of the first semi-final, by singer Eric Saade, who represented Sweden in the contest in 2011 with “Popular”. Saade, of Palestinian descent, sang with his left hand wrapped in a ‘keffiyeh’.
Israel was the first non-European country to participate in the music competition, in 1973, and has won the festival four times.
Tags: song received whistles Israel finalists Eurovision Song Contest
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