The streets of Vienna were empty. The car sped toward the Wiener Stadthalle theater while heavily armed Austrian police officers guarded the route.
Inside the vehicle, a young man named Noam smiled with a mixture of amazement and determination in the face of sudden fame. His eyes, narrowed slightly by exhaustion, seemed prepared—like those of a gladiator—to confront the spirit of the times through song at Eurovision: anti-Israel hatred.
In 1850, as Jerusalem writer Gol Kalev recently recalled, German composer Richard Wagner wrote an essay titled “Judaism in Music,” arguing that Jews polluted the world even through music.
Noam Bettan arrives at the international contest with a love song called “Michelle.”
He sings in French, the language of his mother, Corinne; in Hebrew, the language of Ra’anana, where he was born in 1998; and in English, the language of the world. He is an Israeli boy. A Jew.
For that reason alone, his “Michelle” prompted the fanatical blackout imposed on tens of millions of viewers by the leaders of Spain, Ireland and Slovenia, who not only boycotted the event because of Israel’s participation, but effectively canceled broadcasts and coverage.
They could have aired commercials for 10 minutes instead. But no. They symbolically burned the television screens in a kind of mystical purification ritual—incitement to antisemitic hatred wrapped in the glitter of a music festival.
Yet he endured the cries of “genocidaire” from an anti-Israel mob. He looked toward fans waving blue-and-white flags and sang for them anyway.
This is the logic Jews have had to learn since Oct. 7: Do not waste your strength trying to convince everyone. Stand firm. Resist with dignity intact. Sing, Noam. Long live “Michelle.”
Israel watched its singer reach the final. It is already a dream to see him break through on Saturday night. And if he remains near the top in both jury rankings and the popular vote, proving that hatred can still be pierced, that alone would be enough in times like these.
Meanwhile, in France, a march under the Star of David brought 20,000 people into the streets.
And now a new development: Somewhere beyond Europe’s orchestrated boycotts, Iranian dissidents watching from exile urged people online to vote for Israel’s contestant—a small rebellion against the regime that has terrorized, tortured and murdered them since 1979.
Noam is paving a new road, perhaps even toward the possibility of real peace. F-35s accompanied by music.
