Israel’s Noam Bettan qualified on Tuesday night for the grand final of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after earning enough points in the semifinal to advance.
Alongside the Jewish state, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland also advanced to the final, which will take place on Saturday night.
Bettan’s first performance of “Michelle” at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle drew applause, as well as boos and whistles from anti-Israel protesters in the audience, Ynet reported.
Palestinian flags could also be seen in the arena during Bettan’s performance, and several people were reportedly removed by security after disrupting the contest. Another person was filmed lying on the floor and shouting “genocide” before police escorted him from the venue.
The protests were “really, really loud, but I focused on the performance,” Bettan said after leaving the stage. “I searched with my eyes for the Israeli flags in the crowd. That strengthened me.”
“Thank you to all the people of Israel. Thank you to all the Jews around the world,” he added after qualifying. “Thank you for voting for me. I love you. Wow, I had an amazing performance. I enjoyed every moment. See you in the final.”
After advancing for the final, Bettan rose to the fifth place in bookmakers’ odds to win the contest, overtaking Australia, a leading favorite set to compete in the second semifinal on Thursday.
Yoav Tzafir, the director of Israel’s Eurovision delegation, told Ynet on Tuesday night that “Noam deserves the highest place possible.”
“The reactions were excellent. It was a perfect performance,” Tzafir stated. “We are proud of Noam, the country’s diamond. Noam did not let the boos get to him. He is a true professional.”
Bettan’s 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 in 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.
