Everyone today will get down on Michael Ben David.

I wanted to tell you how I fell in love with him in Turin

Michael forced us - yes, me too - to look in the mirror of the soul and understand what in his extroversion bothers us.

To us, people just like him we have suffered from bullying, some because of suspicion that he is gay and some because she is more than 44 years old.

In Turin I discovered that the problem is me and not him |

Yaniv Dornbush, personal column

Yaniv Dornbush, Turin

13/05/2022

Friday, 13 May 2022, 08:12 Updated: 08:13

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

Michael Ben David back towards the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy, May 11, 2022 (Yaniv Dornbush)

Let's start with a proper disclosure: I am not a saint.

I, too, sin by writing venomous Facebook posts about celebs I do not know, I also ask "who is this, who is this, who is this" in comments to articles about models I have never heard of.

There is a situation where if I had not covered the 2022 Eurovision I would have written now "a job has been opened in a supermarket in Ashdod or Ramat Gan or Petah Tikva or some city that is not proud of it now for coming from it."

Still, in the coming days you will probably see some very negative articles about Michael Ben David and his short trip to Turin, so let me be the one to sign a positive item instead.

Those who follow me on social media, as well as my friends in private conversations, know very well what I think of the song IM that failed last night (Thursday) in an attempt to conquer Europe.

In an article I posted here exactly two months ago, I wrote: "Like his extroversion or not - Michael Ben-David is an excellent performer. That the composers are his good friends and that he loves the song, and that's a wise move - he's supposed to sell to all of Europe and Australia now that it's the song that should win the competition, but we know the chances of a seventh consecutive Eurovision final are slim.

If he manages to reach the final it will be his 100% success, if he is kicked already in the half it really will not be his fault.

As a friend told me - this is how it is when you send papers and not a song. "Today I add that the song is not just papers, it is a buffet of battered Eurovision clichés that are no longer relevant in 2022.

More on Walla!

Full of dietary fiber and cholesterol-free: everything you did not know about Israeli pear

In collaboration with Galil

He got into a situation.

Michael Ben David (Photo: Reuters)

the performance?

Was absolutely flawless.

Here are some examples of people who wrote me private messages or on my Facebook page, from Israelis and foreigners alike:

"Well, he totally played it!"

"Was great, did his best, would be embarrassing if he did not show up at the Torino horror show"

"got the most out of the problematic song"

"What? What is it? I no longer like Eurovision now that he is not in the final

" Good song".

Michael Ben-David, if he stole a coin from Doron Medli, got into the situation.

He participated in an unsuccessful reality show and failed ratings, stuck a song that did not suit him in any way, turned it into a circus while what he does best is sing in an exciting way, stuck it on the outskirts of Turin in a hotel that looks like a 70s hostel, and put it in shape Number 2. Everything that had to go against him - was against him.

And here's something really quite personal, and not at all as a journalist.

I came to Turin without too much affection for Michael, I would even be honest and say I had a certain aversion to his extroversion, "why are we sending this elm," I asked myself, "he is embarrassing and really does not represent me."

The first time I met him face to face was not at all in an interview, but on Memorial Day at the Turin Synagogue.

"Michael will know, it will yield from Walla!", The head of the delegation, Hadar Ben Menashe, told him, and he turned to me in tears and hugged me.

"Why are you crying?", We asked him, and he immediately replied: "It excites me to be here in the synagogue on this difficult day, that so many soldiers guarding us are dead and we are here, it is difficult."

I am not a religious person by any means, but as he sang in front of the ark "Our Father our King," his clear voice managed to penetrate even my fossilized heart.

Michael and Yaniv Dornbush (Photo: Screenshot, EBU)

The second time we met was after the second rehearsal, for a one-on-one interview, where I met an open person who unlike our previous representative did not veto questions, did not make faces, and agreed to be interviewed about everything.

When the camera went off, he told the Israeli reporters, "You excite me more than the event itself, this weekend I will return to you, you are the house, you are what I have."

The turquoise carpet event is a boring event that even we journalists would be happy not to be there.

It's too long, hot or too cold, rainy at times, with a great many uninteresting artists.

Until Michael came and just woke up this whole dormant incident.

Everything we asked of him and his staff we received - videos, comments, interviews, photos, quotes - Michael came to work and he devoted himself to work.

There was no situation where a camera was aimed at him and he said "no no, I do not want to", but immediately a huge smile and "what an amazing dream this thing is".

He is so sociable, that every encounter with him is immediately hugs and love, and the truth - if it were possible, he would also come to you and hug you.

Yes, even the most toxic talkbackist would get a hug, a smile, and "you have the right to think like that and I respect that, the main thing is that you will take life easy, everything is good!".

Michael forced us, yes - me too, to look in the mirror of the psyche, what exactly is bothering us in extroversion, as the psychologists in the penny article - where it meets us.

Us, people just like him, we suffered from bullying, some because he suspected he was gay, some because she's more than 44 not on us, the one who goes crooked and the one with the bridge in his teeth.

Almost every one of us went through some kind of boycott, and yet that did not stop us from beating Michael.

The problem is us, not him.

Last night, a little less than an hour before the semifinals, I was interviewed for Iris Cole's show on 103fm.

Among other things, she asked me if I thought Michael Ben-David had an audience in Israel.

I am not a great expert in this field, but the audience is the one who chose Ben David and made him the big winner of The X Factor.

Michael Ben-David is much more than an IM or one who is pushed (yes, awkwardly, you can not beautify it) into a frame with the presenters.

He is a sensitive person on a level I have not seen for a long time, with a huge voice, who knows how to dance in an enviable way, with tremendous playing abilities, with a big heart, and I know that he has good songs along the way, and that his audience has at least one person.

• culture

• Music

• Music news

Tags

• Michael Ben David

• Eurovision 2022