Israeli Eurovision Contestant Booed on Stage

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Israel's Eurovision contestant says "nothing will deter" her after getting booed during a dress rehearsal on Wednesday.

Eden Golan was performing her song Hurricane ahead of Thursday's semi-final in Malmo, Sweden.

In a statement, she said she was "proud to represent my country".

There have been several campaigns to block Israel from taking part in this year's contest following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and thousands of people joined pro-Palestinian protests in the city on Thursday.

But the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which hosts the event, has ruled Israel is allowed to compete.

After Wednesday's dress rehearsal, several videos surfaced on social media from audience members who had recorded Golan being booed by some members of the crowd.

Golan had to change her song Hurricane after the original track October Rain was deemed to be a reference to the October 7 attacks

Israel is currently engaged in a military campaign in Gaza, which they launched as a response to Hamas' cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

About 1,200 people were killed and 252 others were taken hostage.

More than 34,840 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel is free to compete in Eurovision as it is a member of the EBU.

Speaking on Sunday, the deputy director general of the EBU, Jean Philip De Tender, said if you "exclude Kan (Israeli public broadcaster) outside of these competition rules, that would have been a political decision, as such, which we cannot take", because it considers itself as an apolitical organisation.

He added: "We do understand the concerns and the deeply held views that many people have around the war in the Middle East and I think nobody can remain untouched by the profound suffering of everybody involved in that war."

Golan was requested to change her original track, entitled October Rain, after it caused controversy.

The song was thought to allude to Hamas kidnapping and killing Israelis and was then changed to Hurricane, which was approved by the EBU.

Golan's team say the 20-year-old has been confined to her hotel room after a series of threats against the Israeli delegation.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, which organises the country's Eurovision entry, says it has complained to the EBU about the booing and asked it to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Eurovision organisers liaised with Swedish police to bring in reinforcements from Denmark and Norway, as they were expecting protests in the city ahead of Israel’s semi-final performance.

A heavy police presence has now arrived in the city, as demonstrators gathered with Palestinian and LGBTQ+ flags on Thursday afternoon.

Whilst performances from musicians were taking place, smoke canisters in the colours of the Palestinian flag were set off in the city’s central square.

Protestors have also been carrying signs displaying images of Gazan civilians who have been injured in the conflict.

Eurovision's 2023 winner Loreen told the BBC she understood why people were protesting.

"All of us are affected by what’s going on [but] we don’t know what to do, because it’s such a complex situation," the Swedish singer said.

"Some react with aggression, some cry, some shut down. We are different in that way, so I understand where it [the protesting] comes from.”

But Loreen argued that booing Golan was "not fair" and "unconstructive".

Elsewhere, organisers apologised on Tuesday after a semi-final performer displayed a pro-Palestinian symbol.

Former Swedish contestant Eric Saade, whose father is a Palestinian from Lebanon, wore a keffiyeh - a type of scarf commonly worn by Palestinians - on his arm.

A spokeswoman for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said: "The Eurovision Song Contest is a live TV show.

"All performers are made aware of the rules of the contest, and we regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event."

Saade later said on his Instagram story the scarf was "just my way of showing a part of my origin... I got that keffiyeh from my dad when I was a little boy, to never forget where the family comes from".

Fans were also warned not to bring Palestinian flags, symbols or bags into the Mälmo Arena.

Israel's participation has been one of the main talking points at this year's Eurovision.

Ireland's contestant Bambie Thug told reporters they were "ordered" to remove political gestures from an outfit ahead of the semi-final performance.

Their costume had originally included an ancient Celtic writing known as Ogham - which they said had spelt "ceasefire" and "freedom for Palestine".

The UK's entrant, Olly Alexander, has previously called for an "immediate and lasting ceasefire" in Gaza, but refused calls to boycott the event.

In December he signed a statement accusing Israel of genocide in the war – an accusation which Israel has vehemently rejected.

...other hockey players do shake his hand during the traditional post Stanley Cup Playoff series handshake.

It's tradition and it's expected as a sign of good sportsmanship.

You're expected to shake hands with an opposing player who deliberately caused a life-altering injury to a teammate, unless they've been ejected from the game already.

You're expected to shake hands with opposing players regardless of their political or social views. China and Chinese Taipei spend entire games playing dirty, regularly get into brawls and still line-up to shake hands. Israeli and Palestinians players would be expected to shake hands too, if Palestine had a team.

So with that in mind, Putinism isn't the lesser evil, hockey players would also shake hands with Zionists, Nazi apologists, Islamists, Leninists, guys suspected of sex crimes, etc.

A valid argument could made that it would not happen in hockey because hockey players tend to be traditional, but traditions and norms are going by the wayside fast, what happened in the Eurovision contest is but one of many examples.

There is this superstar hockey player named Alex Ovechkin who is personally close to Putin. Like typical star players he gets booed in opposing arenas and cheered at home. While he has gotten some blowback for his Putin support he does not need a police escort to go to games because there are 20,000 protesters, other hockey players do shake his hand during the traditional post Stanley Cup Playoff series handshake.

I remember when Russia first invaded Ukraine there were boycotts of Russian art and artists but after a couple of weeks the consensus changed to it’s unfair to punish the artist for their government.

There is this superstar hockey player named Alex Ovechkin who is personally close to Putin. Like typical star players he gets booed in opposing arenas and cheered at home. While he has gotten some blowback for his Putin support he does not need a police escort to go to games because there are 20,000 protesters, other hockey players do shake his hand during the traditional post Stanley Cup Playoff series handshake.

So apparently not only is Putinism the lesser of two evils when compared to zionism it is so obvious there is no discussion. Or maybe there is something else.

Of course, he's not Jewish.

Why not try actually comparing like with like?
Then you will see that while Israel were permitted to compete at Eurovision, Russia have been banned for the past three years. So the Western establishment is actually far softer on Israel in cases like this than it is on Russia.