Israel Finishes Second at Eurovision as Bulgaria Wins

Israel’s representative, Noam Batan, finished in a remarkable second place at Eurovision for the second year in a row. Dara, Bulgaria’s representative, won with the song "Bangaranga" after climbing in the betting tables in the two days leading up to the final, improving from 16th place and overtaking leading contenders for the win such as the representatives of Finland and Australia.

"Hello my friends, Am Yisrael Chai. It was really crazy. I hope we brought hope and strength to the people of Israel," Batan said after the exceptional achievement. "If we had won, it would have broken Eurovision," sources in the Israeli delegation said, adding that "second place is a victory for us." Even before the final began, a senior member of the Israeli delegation approached a senior official in the European Broadcasting Union and asked what would be done if Israel won. He answered with a smile and refused to respond.

In response to the win, the Israeli delegation’s director Yoav Tzafir told ynet: "We brought enormous pride to the country in a difficult time. Second place twice is a huge victory. Proud of Noam, a true prince." Batan reached the honorable position thanks to a strong and moving vocal performance that swept up the audience in the arena, which cheered loudly from the moment he stepped on stage, overpowering the minor boos.

He ended the performance with thanks to Europe and the cry, "Am Yisrael Chai!" At the end of the 70th edition of the contest, held in Vienna, Israel received 123 points from the juries, placing it eighth in their ranking: 12 points from Poland, 10 points from Ukraine and Moldova, 8 points from Albania, Lithuania and Austria, 7 points from Bulgaria, Armenia and Denmark, 6 from Georgia and Romania, 5 points from Croatia, 4 points from Malta, Azerbaijan, San Marino, France and Serbia, 3 points from Germany, 2 points from Switzerland and the Czech Republic, and 1 point from Belgium and Norway.

Unlike recent years, when the juries boycotted the Israeli representative, this year most jury panels awarded Israel points. At the same time, Israel enjoyed even greater success with the public, finishing third with 220 points. In total, Israel reached 343 points.

Israel awarded its douze points, 12 points, to Australia, 10 points to Denmark, 8 points to Bulgaria, 7 to Finland, 6 to Moldova, 5 to Greece, 4 to Romania, 3 to Italy, 2 points to Belgium and 1 point to Albania.

During the evening, Batan went live on his Instagram account and thanked viewers in Israel: "I want to say thank you to everyone for your love and support for me, it means so much to me. Vote for Israel, vote for Michel, I love you all." He also said after finishing his performance: "I was really worried at first, I hope. Overall I felt good on stage, really felt totally fine. I just wanted to give my 100%, and that is exactly what I tried to do. Honestly, this is the big stage, I had a lot of fun and we are already past it. I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone, thank you very much to all the audience at home, I love you!"

Earlier in the evening, Tzafir, who sat in the Israeli green room with Sivan Yang, Zack, Noam’s manager, and the Israeli delegation’s official spokesperson Roni Wilder, told ynet that it was "one of Israel’s best performances in Eurovision, we did our part. I’m proud of him. He was our diamond." "Noam gave a phenomenal performance," said Tzlal Klifi, one of the writers of "Michel," to ynet. "We were incredibly moved, Am Yisrael Chai."

As the broadcast began, Spain’s RTVE aired a protest message against Israel. "RTVE reminds viewers that it decided not to participate in this year’s contest," the network wrote on its Twitter page. "Eurovision is a competition, but human rights are not. There is no place for indifference. Peace and justice for Palestine." The black screen was shown on the channel, which had already decided not to take part in the contest this year in protest of Israel’s participation. In similar cases involving participating countries, Israel can file an official complaint with the European Broadcasting Union, but here, since the country is not participating, it does not constitute a sanction.

The television broadcast went smoothly, except for a significant malfunction during the performance of the Czech representative, Daniel Zizka. The camera was damaged, and for half a minute of his performance green stripes appeared on the screen, so he was visible through the stripes. According to the European Broadcasting Union’s statement, the Czech Republic will not perform again, despite having requested to do so: "There was a small camera malfunction during the Czech performance in the grand final [...] the artist’s performance and audio were not affected, so the song will not be performed again."

Before the final broadcast began, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated in Vienna against Israel’s participation in Eurovision, the largest protest held in the city during the contest week. Following the demonstration, security officials barred some members of the Israeli delegation from leaving the arena complex.