After the news broke over the Internet in the last couple of weeks that both songs that KAN submitted for Eurovision 2024 got rejected, the Israeli national broadcaster announced that despite the headlines they created in the last weeks, they indeed intend to compete in Eurovision 2024, and they will do the necessary changes to the song, to fit the EBU rules and requirements.
This announcement comes after a big discussion in the social media in Israel, where the Israeli public showed a great interest in competing this year – mainly in order to show the strength on behalf of Israel and its people, and also in order to raise awareness all around Europe to the events that happened on the 7th of October last year.
A spokesperson in front of KAN stated:
Despite disagreeing with the position of the EBU, which sought to disqualify the two songs submitted by Israel to the Contest on the grounds that they “carry a political character”, KAN adopted the advice of the country’s president, Yitzhak Herzog, who turned to the our Board of Directors and asked to make the necessary adjustments, which would allow Israel to compete on the Eurovision stage.
The President of the country emphasized that precisely at a time when our haters seek to push and boycott the State of Israel from every platform – Israel must raise its voice and hold head high and raise its flag in every world forum, especially this year.
KAN contacted the creators of the two selected songs, “October Rain” which was chosen in first place and the song“Dance Forever” which came in second place, and asked to readjust the lyrics, whilst preserving full artistic freedom. Based on the new lyrics – KAN will choose the song that will be sent to the Eurovision supervising committee, so that they will approve Israel’s participation in the Contest.
As a reminder, Israel was selecting their act through the talent show “HaKokhav HaBa” (Rising Star) once again. Eden Golan won this year’s edition, and has thus been selected to represent Israel in Malmö. Her song was not selected during the show, but it was selected internally by the public broadcaster after this talent show finished.
The new, and final version of the song will be presented on the evening of the 10th of March.
