Israel in Eurovision – Races in Israel:

MALMÖ (Dagbladet): Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision is very controversial due to the country’s ongoing warfare in Gaza.

On Wednesday evening, their hope in the competition, Eden Golan, took to the stage for the country’s dress rehearsal before tomorrow’s semi-final.

In the semi-finals, the tone is set: Golan performs in the semi-finals just before Norges Gåte.

This was also the case during the dress rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon.

Dagbladet was present in the hall during the dress rehearsal together with other press and fans. There was silence in the hall during the performance, except for Israel’s own delegation, who cheered wildly when Golan came on stage.

William Lee Adams, the world’s biggest Eurovision blogger through Wiwibloggs, says this about Norway’s performance during the dress rehearsal:

– Amazing!

Races towards Norway

But there is something else that has stolen the headlines in Israel and among the Israeli media, which is present in Malmö. The Israeli journalists have reacted strongly to the behavior of the Norwegian contribution Gåte.

The Israeli journalist Yaniv Dornbush has filmed a scene from outside the arena where he claims that Norway ignores them when they say they are from Israel.

– I have never witnessed such a repulsive attitude as from the Norwegian Eurovision delegation, and even on Holocaust Day, writes Dornbush in the major Israeli newspaper Wallah.

He says that he has covered ten Eurovision events and “never experienced a boycott on the basis of which country the journalists come from.

Eurovision general Stig Karlsen denies such discrimination.

– We are aware of this claim, but it is not true. We avoid no one and talk to as many media as possible to promote Gåte and the music. The demand is so great that we have to continuously make assessments about where we should spend our time to the best of our ability. There were hundreds of journalists accredited to the Eurovision opening ceremony. Unfortunately, there are many people we don’t get to talk to, says Stig Karlsen, delegation leader for Norway at Eurovision.