When the representative of Israel entered the stage, the first disturbing shouts were heard. Although there were only a few of them, at the end of the performance E. Golan heard the extremely disrespectful behavior of the gathered audience – some of them whistled the girl.
Netizens were surprised at the behavior of adults and asked, what does a young girl have to do with the country’s decisions?
“She’s only 20 years old and has to experience it. Terrible,” the internet user did not hide his disappointment.
“I apologize to all the fans of Israel. It has never been so shameful to be European as it is now,” the commentator lamented.
Other netizens wrote that they hoped that E. Golan would reach his room safely after the performance.
“I really hope she’ll be okay. Too bad I can’t vote for her tonight,” wrote another.
Eden Golan represents Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Hurricane”. The 20-year-old beat three other candidates in the finals of the Hakochav Haba (Another Star) TV show. She impressed the jury and the audience with her performance of Aerosmith’s song “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”. After the victory, she performed the song again and dedicated it to the hostages and their families in the Gaza Strip.
Only later was it decided with which song the performer will appear on the Eurovision stage. E. Golan lives in Tel Aviv. According to media reports, she spent most of her childhood in Russia, but moved back to Israel two years ago.
In some countries, as well as on social networks, voices were heard demanding the exclusion of Israel from this year’s contest due to the Gaza war. In addition, there were calls to boycott the event in Finland, Iceland and other countries. However, Eurovision organizers were against Israel’s exclusion from the contest. According to them, the event must remain apolitical. Although after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the organizers in 2022 announced that the aggressor’s performers will not be in Eurovision.
Moments of the second semi-final – in the gallery:
Delphi reminds that the 68th Eurovision Song Contest is being held in the Swedish city of Malmö. Artists from 37 countries are competing for the name of the winner.
During the second semi-final, it became clear that Latvia, Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Israel, Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Sakartvel, Armenia are going to the grand final.
During the second semi-final, the following countries took the stage: Malta, Albania, Greece, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Austria, Denmark, Armenia, Latvia, Spain, San Marino, Sarkartvel, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Israel, Norway, Netherlands.
In the first semi-final, tickets to the final were won by: Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia, Ireland, Luxembourg.
The novelty of this year’s competition is that the performances of the countries that automatically appear in the finals are also included in the semi-finals: Sweden, the host of the competition, and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, which support the preparation of the competition with the largest sums. Although their performances will be included among the semi-finalists, they will not be able to be voted on.
Lithuanian viewers could cast their vote in the first semi-final, in which our country’s representative appeared – they could vote during the allotted time via short SMS message, the Internet or a special “Eurovision” voting app.
This year’s song contest is hosted by Hollywood star and legendary Eurovision veteran Malin Akerman and Petra Mede.
The first semi-final of Eurovision started with the three favorites of the song contest, their song was performed by Eleni Foureira, who won 2nd place in 2018, the Swedish artist Eric Saade, who appeared in 2011 with the song “Popular” and the Spanish Chanel, who won 3rd place a year ago.
After some time passed, it became clear that Silvester Belt will appear in the first part of the final. Together with him, representatives of Ireland and Luxembourg will be in this part.
At that time, Slovenia, Finland and Cyprus were in the second part of the final.
At the press conference after the first semi-final, Silvester Belt thanked everyone who voted for him. When asked about the bullying he experienced as a child, the artist said that he wants to support all people who experience it.
“I love you all with all my heart. And to my little inner child, I would say, ‘Little boy, you’ve been through so much adversity, never stop and never give up,'” said Silvester Belt.
When asked what was the biggest challenge in his Eurovision tour, the artist representing Lithuania did not say much, stating that it was sleep.
Silvester Belt’s performance in the first semi-final:
A Latvian journalist noticed that there is a lot of discussion in the neighboring country about which language song should be sent to the song contest. When asked about the arguments in Lithuania, Silvester Belt said that here too people say that you should send a piece performed in a foreign language, otherwise no one will understand it.
“However, to be honest, the only people who think so are Lithuanians. The whole world, all people, regardless of Lithuanians, are convinced that our language is very beautiful, don’t stop doing it. I don’t regret it, besides, the Lithuanian language adds mystique,” said Silvester Belt.
Tags: representative Israel Eurovision stage received support spectators whistled
