Israel's Noam Bettan Advances to Eurovision Final
Bettan delivered a confident performance, appearing onstage with five female dancers in a polished production number that featured part of the song performed inside a large diamond-like structure. “Michelle,” a catchy song performed in English, French and Hebrew, was one of 10 entries chosen from the 15 songs competing in the semifinal.
Israel’s Noam Bettan advanced to the Eurovision Song Contest final on Tuesday night after his song “Michelle” was selected in the first semifinal in Vienna.
Bettan delivered a confident performance, appearing onstage with five female dancers in a polished production number that featured part of the song performed inside a large diamond-like structure. “Michelle,” a catchy song performed in English, French and Hebrew, was one of 10 entries chosen from the 15 songs competing in the semifinal.
Bettan will now compete in the Eurovision final on Saturday night, May 16.
After the performance, Bettan spoke to KAN 11 while wrapped in an Israeli flag, thanking viewers in Israel and Jews around the world for their support. He said boos in the arena had been quickly drowned out by louder support.
“We look at the good, we look at the light,” he said. “Am Israel Chai. We will meet in the final.”
Before the semifinal, Bettan told KAN commentators Akiva Novick and Asaf Liberman that he and his dancers needed support from Israelis to succeed. In an earlier interview, he said he wanted to make both Israelis and Jews around the world proud.
The song was written by Nadav Aharoni, Tzlil Klifi, last year’s Israeli Eurovision contestant Yuval Raphael, and Bettan himself. Raphael finished second overall in 2025 with “New Day Will Rise” after winning the televote.
Israel has reached every Eurovision final since 2014 except in 2022, when Michael Ben David failed to qualify. This year’s contest, however, has been marked by political tensions over Israel’s participation. After Raphael’s strong televote showing last year, several countries alleged Israel had benefited unfairly, leading to rule changes for the semifinals.
Under the new rules, national juries now account for 50% of the semifinal results, instead of the semifinal being determined by audience voting alone. National juries have generally been less supportive of Israel than public voters.
Five countries, Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Iceland and Ireland, withdrew from this year’s contest over Israel’s participation. Slovenia, Ireland and Spain also chose not to broadcast the competition.
While no boos were audible on the television broadcast, BBC commentators noted that some audience members appeared to react negatively to Israel’s participation.
The first semifinal also featured several high-profile performances, including Finland’s Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen, who have led betting tables with “Liekinheitin,” and Greece’s Akylas, who performed “Ferto.”
The second semifinal will take place on May 14. Both the second semifinal and Saturday’s final will be broadcast in Israel on KAN 11.