The organizers of Eurovision have finally approved this Thursday the participation of Israel in the international contest thanks to the rewriting of the country’s initial proposal October Rain, which has been renamed Hurricane and moves away from the political tone that the song previously had.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest, has also confirmed this to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, in charge of selecting the national candidate. The new version of the song maintains the same melody as the previous proposal, but the lyrics, which generated the most controversy, have been completely rewritten. That is why the EBU organization has allowed the country to participate in the contest to be held in May in Malmo, Sweden.
According to Israeli media, the first version of the proposal, which was disqualified by the contest, alluded to more than 247 Israeli soldiers who had died in five months of war in Gaza. The song referred to the deceased as “flowers”, a metaphor used in military jargon for men killed in combat.
“Life is not a coward’s game… / As time goes by / Every day / I’m losing my mind / Holding on,” said part of the lyrics in English, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Now, the new proposal called Huracán, written by Keren Peles, Avi Ohayon and Stav Beger, and which will be performed by the same singer, Eden Golan, will be revealed in a special program this Sunday on the Kan channel.
It was just last week when Israeli President Isaac Hezog spoke on Israel’s public broadcaster, which refused to make changes to the song, to ask them for flexibility regarding making changes to the proposal.
“I think it is important that Israel appears in Eurovision, and this is also a statement because there are enemies who try to expel us from every stage,” said Herzog, alluding to a call within the EBU itself to veto Israel’s participation in the war. which he maintains in Gaza.
For its part, the broadcaster responded that Eurovision is an “apolitical” event, despite the criticism it received when it expelled Russia from the contest after its military aggression against Ukraine in 2022.
