On 5th June, Israeli Eurovision broadcaster KAN announced that its 2024 entrant would be the winner of the popular reality series HaKokhav HaBa, better known as Rising Star in English. Due to the ongoing conflict, it appears as though that might be in jeopardy.
While no official announcement has been made by KAN, Israeli media outlet Mako is reporting that as per the directives of the Israeli Home Front Command, filming of the series has been suspended indefinitely.
Filming of the qualifiers from the casting phase was set to begin this week, and was due to air on Keshet 12 in November. No update has been given on new filming dates or new broadcast dates, but it seems unlikely for the show to be ready for broadcast next month.
Israel used Rising Star to choose its participants from 2015 to 2021, and had great success, with every artist qualifying for the Grand Final:
- 2015 Nadav Guedj – “Golden Boy” – 9th place with 97 points
- 2016 Hovi Star – “Made of Stars” – 14th place with 135 points
- 2017 Imri – “I Feel Alive” – 23rd place with 39 points
- 2018 Netta – “Toy” – 1st place with 529 points
- 2019 Kobi Marimi – “Home” – 23rd place with 35 points [Host country]
- 2021 Eden Alene – “Set Me Free” – 17th place with 93 points
Should Rising Star not proceed, Israel would retain the option of choosing an act internally, or withdrawing from Eurovision entirely.
Israel’s last Eurovision artist from Rising Star was Eden Alene, who set a Eurovision record when she hit the incredibly high B6 note during her Semi Final in Rotterdam!
Our entire ESCBubble team hopes that everyone affected by the conflict is staying safe.
