Participation now fixed

Israel’s revised ESC song approved

The organizing team of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has now approved Israel's revised song. The country will now take part in the competition, as the television station Kan reported. The first version had been rejected because it was considered too political.

The rewritten song is now called "Hurricane" and has the same melody as its predecessor "October Rain". The song originally submitted was about the massacre by the Islamist Hamas in Israel on October 7. This was too political for the organizing team and the ESC song was rejected. Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog then turned to the board of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and asked that the country be allowed to raise its voice - at a time when people hate Israel and want to exclude it.

However, the Israeli broadcaster Kan initially refused to edit the text. Without this step, the country would not have been able to take part in the music competition. Swedish artists, among others, had called for Israel to be excluded from the ESC due to the war in Gaza. The organizers rejected this.

Austria's ESC participant Kaleen(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Start on May 7, Austria takes part
The 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö begins on May 7 with the first semi-final, followed two days later by the second semi-final, in which Austria's representative Kaleen will also be singing "We Will Rave" for a ticket to the final. The final round of the world's biggest music competition is scheduled for May 11. Representatives from a total of 37 countries will be competing in Malmö this year. Last year, singer Loreen won with "Tattoo" in Liverpool.