Israeli singer Eden Golan landed home on Sunday after a tumultuous participation at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, where she faced hostility from fellow competitors, a booing audience, and a thousands-strong pro-Hamas mob outside of the venue.
Golan represented Israel at the contest with the song “Hurricane,” initially meant to be a ballad honoring the lives of those killed and the hostages still in captivity following the October 7 siege of her country by the Iran-backed jihadists of Hamas. The song, initially titled “October Rain,” was modified to comply with Eurovision’s “no politics” rule, but still touched on themes of honoring the dead, mourning, and fearlessly facing hate.
While facing a wave of hatred in Sweden, Golan landed in Israel on Sunday to flowers and a flurry of Israeli flags. She dedicated her first remarks to the press upon returning home to the estimated 130 hostages still trapped by Hamas since October.
“It is a huge privilege that I am here and that I had the opportunity to represent our country, especially in moments like this,” Golan told reporters, according to the Times of Israel. “I felt the love from the people, and you cannot understand how much it helped me.”
“I represented the country and was our voice for everyone who needs to be brought home now,” Golan affirmed, referring to the Hamas hostages.
Golan reportedly received a call from Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday while returning home, congratulating her for bringing “honor and courage” to the country.
“Dear Eden, You’ve brought us a lot of honor and courage as you proudly stood against the anti-Israel and antisemitic crowds present,” Ynet News reported the president as saying. “It was a complicated national mission and I offer you my congratulations and gratitude.”
Golan had posted a message on her social media accounts following her performance at Eurovision on Saturday explicitly dedicating her efforts to the hostages, writing, “we are desperately waiting for you all to return home.”
On Sunday, Golan published another message marking Israel’s Remembrance Day.
“As I’m still processing the last two weeks and the difficulties I faced form [sic] this experience nothing compares to what the families of those who have sacrificed their lives to protect and fight for our country,” she wrote, “and especially those who are still waiting for the loved ones to come home. this Remembrance Day hits harder than any year before.”
“We pay a large price for our country and that should never be taken for granted. today we honor the 25,040 heroes. May their memory be a blessing,” Golan concluded.
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual event in which participating countries – which have often included non-European friendly countries such as Israel and Australia – send a representative to perform an original song. A panel of juries from each participating country, made up of music professionals, awards half of the votes to their favorite acts, while the other half of the votes come from a public televote.
Despite international efforts to ban Israel from the contest, many citing the 2022 expulsion of Russia in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that year, Golan came in second place in the popular vote and fifth overall. The public gave Golan’s “Hurricane” 323 points, while the jury gave her only 52. At least one juror, from last-place finisher Norway, later admitted to refusing to vote for Golan because he opposed Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas.
While Golan’s popular vote was high, the audience in Malmö was unsympathetic, booing her performance.
Golan also faced hostility from fellow participants. The representative from Ireland, a self-described “non-binary” “witch” known as “Bambie Thug,” claimed that she “cried” when she heard the news that Golan had qualified to participate in the Eurovision Grand Final. At a press conference before Saturday’s final, Golan received a question from a reporter asking if she felt that her choice to sing at Eurovision was endangering her competitors. An organizer told Golan that she did not need to answer the question, to which Dutch singer Joost Klein – burying his head under a flag during Golan’s portion of the press conference – shouted, “why not?”
Klein was disqualified from the contest shortly thereafter as a result of what Eurovision organizers called an “incident” in which he threatened a photographer. Klein is reportedly facing a criminal investigation for unlawful threats. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported on Monday that law enforcement officials expect to prosecute Klein on charges soon on the grounds that he lunged at a female photographer with a closed fist. Organizers of the event clarified that Klein’s “incident” was unrelated to Golan or any other performer.
In addition to “Bambie Thug” and Klein, multiple reports accused Greek singer Marina Satti of being disrespectful to Golan, pretending to sleep or exaggerating expressions of boredom when the Israeli spoke. Satti later claimed in a social media post she “didn’t intend to offend anyone.”
The Eurovision trophy ultimately went to the Swiss singer/rapper Nemo for his song “The Code,” an homage to identifying as “non-binary,” who broke it within minutes of winning it.
Nemo was notably not among the artists who were openly hostile towards Israel, though he did lament the overall toxic climate at Eurovision this year following his victory.
“This whole experience was really intense and not just pleasant all the way” Nemo told reporters. “There were a lot of things that didn’t seem like it was all about love and unity. And that made me really sad and at the same time … there was so much love here as well.”
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