Israel's Eurovision song submission 'Hurricane' presented after previous song rejected for being 'too political'

Israel presented on Sunday its new Eurovision song “Hurricane,” which will be performed by the singer Eden Golan in Malmö, Sweden in May.

Keren Peles, Avi Ohayon and Stav Beger wrote the largely English lyrics, most likely to make the song accessible to the widest possible international audience.

Israel submitted a new song for the international competition after the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) rejected its previous submission, “October Rain,” claiming it was “too political” regarding the Hamas invasion and terror attack on Israeli communities last October.

The Israeli singer admitted that the prevailing political climate after Oct.7 has been challenging for the State of Israel and Israeli performers.

“I ended up [competing] in a not simple year,” Golan said. However, she stressed that Israel’s participation was significant in conveying the emotional storm that Israeli society has undergone in recent months.

“...I even more so want to represent the country this year, because of its meaning — it has a totally different significance. And we can bring everything we’re feeling, and everything the country is going through, in those three minutes. To speak through the song to the world,” she said.

There have been vocal calls by anti-Israel activists to boycott the Jewish state’s participation because of the current conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror organization in Gaza. However, the EBU ultimately decided that Israel would be allowed to participate in the new 2024 Eurovision song competition.

“We are a member-led organisation. The governing bodies of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – headed by the Executive Board – represent the membership. These bodies have reviewed the participants list and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN meets all the competition rules and can participate in the Contest next year in Malmö, Sweden, alongside 36 other broadcasters,” the EBU wrote in a statement.

The EBU also rebuked a demand from Iceland to exclude Israel from Eurovision.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for public service broadcasters from across Europe and the Middle East. It is a competition for broadcasters – not governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has participated in the Contest for 50 years,” EBU stated.

Despite being located in the Middle East region, Israel has participated in the Eurovision since the early 1970s. The Jewish state won the entire Eurovision four times: 1978, 1979, 1998 and 2018. The last Israeli victory was the song “Toy” performed by the singer Netta Barzilai.

In last year's Eurovision 2023 competition, singer Noa Kirel earned the third spot in the international contest with the pop song, "Unicorn." Last month, Kirel's cousin, Sgt. First Class (res.) Ori Yaish was killed in a terror attack in Israel. He was the 573rd IDF soldier to be killed since the outbreak of the war.

Like other cultural events, the Eurovision competition used to be far less political in the past. However, anti-Israel activists have increasingly pushed their agenda throughout Europe and America.

Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, could potentially become a challenging political environment for the Israeli Eurovision delegation. Approximately one-third of the Swedish city’s residents are of Muslim Middle Eastern descent. In recent years, the city has become a hotbed for antisemitism and hatred against the Jewish state. The local Jewish community has consequently dwindled to just a few hundred people because of the emigration and relocation of younger Jews.

The Russian-Israeli singer Eden Golan is no stranger to political tensions. While she was born in Israel, she and her family lived in Moscow for several years before returning to Israel in 2022 following the Russian invasion and war against Ukraine.