Noam Bettan, Israel’s 2026 Eurovision Song Contest entrant, completed his first rehearsal in Vienna on Sunday, debuting a prominent diamond prop central to his performance of “Michelle.”
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster described the structure as the largest prop of this year’s event, saying Bettan begins his performance from inside the mirrored installation, which was designed to create a multiplied visual effect echoing the song’s music video.
Images released by the European Broadcasting Union on Monday showed Bettan performing with five female dancers, emerging from the prop as choreography builds around him. Kan said the rehearsal drew enthusiastic reactions in Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle arena.
🚨🇮🇱First photos from Israel’s first rehearsal for #Eurovision 2026! pic.twitter.com/ipXp6xm8Zw
— Eurovision News (@EurovisionNewZ) May 4, 2026
The Jewish state is scheduled to compete in the first semifinal on Tuesday, May 12. A second semifinal will take place on May 14, with the grand final on May 16.
Bettan will represent the Jewish state with the song “Michelle.” The ballad, with lyrics in Hebrew, English and French, was written and composed by Nadav Aharoni, Tslil Klifi and Yuval Raphael, the country’s 2025 Eurovision representative and a survivor of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The son of French immigrant parents, Bettan, 28, from the central city of Ra’anana, was nominated as Israel’s contestant after winning the finale of the “HaKokhav HaBa” (“The Next Star”) TV competition in January.
He began his musical career during his compulsory military service and first gained national attention in 2018 after coming in third in the musical reality TV competition “Aviv or Eyal.”
In 2024, Bettan released “Pokeach Einayim,” based on lyrics by Israel Defense Forces Staff Sgt. Yaron Oree Shay, a soldier from the Nahal Brigade who was killed fighting Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel was cleared to compete in Eurovision after other broadcasters abandoned a proposal to bar its participation, following reforms intended to enhance the event’s “transparency and neutrality.”
Broadcasters of Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain subsequently announced that their countries would skip the musical event in protest of the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel to participate.
