In the shadow of threats to cancel its participation in Eurovision, Iceland jumps to the 5th place in the betting charts - and overtakes Israel.
As I recall, the country was threatened with canceling their participation in the European singing competition due to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and later it was decided that the singer who will win the preliminaries of the Icelandic Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held next month, will decide whether to participate in the competition or not.
As a reminder, according to various reports, a Palestinian singer from East Jerusalem named Bashar Murad is expected to participate in the Icelandic competition, so he may represent the country in the popular singing competition.
Now, as the votes in Iceland against Israel are increasing, they are getting support from the punters - while Israel drops to 7th place, its lowest since the betting began.
At the top of the tables is Ukraine, which, as you remember, is also at war, followed by England, Italy and Sweden.
In 6th place, between Iceland and Israel, is Latvia.
Noa Kirel's full performance in the Eurovision 2023 semi-finals // Courtesy of Kaan 11, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation
Despite the calls to boycott Israel, the following month the European Broadcasting Union published a clarification on the issue, according to which Israel will be allowed to participate in Eurovision this year - as it has done every year.
"The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition between public broadcasters from across Europe and the Middle East that are members of the European Broadcasting Union. It is a competition for broadcasters, not governments, and Israeli broadcasting has been participating for 50 years. Eurovision is an apolitical event that unites audiences around the world through music," the statement said.
In the meantime, Bakhan and Beskhet 12 contacted dozens of creators from the entire Israeli musical spectrum who were selected by a professional committee, in order for them to propose the song that might represent Israel in the upcoming competition.
In the past, the representatives of Israel performed songs in the competition only in Hebrew, and after several jarring failures, it was decided to switch to English.
This year, against the backdrop of the war, it was decided to include the Hebrew language as well.
Will we see the Israeli flag in the upcoming competition?
Kirel at Eurovision 2023, photo: I.P.
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