NOA KIREL VERSUS POLAND
(iltv)
Almost two weeks have passed since Noa Kirel's performance at Eurovision 2023, where she finished third and immediately after found herself faced with controversy.
The saga continued on Tuesday, when Kirel defended her statement about the Holocaust and Poland.
In a post-performance interview after last Saturday’s final, the singer said that receiving full marks from Poland "after almost the entire Kirel family was murdered in the Holocaust, is a victory." She made similar comments in an interview with Ynet.
The 22-year-old, considered one of the biggest pop stars in Israel today, said Tuesday: "Poland and I have been in a love affair for a while.”
Speaking to Channel 12 News, Kirel explained the situation: “When they [Poland] awarded me the 12 points, I said it was a victory for me because what happened to my family during the Holocaust happened on Polish soil. I meant that it happened on Polish soil. Things are kind of taken out of context."
"I'm sure I'll meet with the Polish foreign minister, we'll talk and he'll understand the situation. I will continue to tour in Poland and I'm sure everything will be fine," Kirel continued, and added that she shoots "a lot of music videos in Poland, including the video for 'Unicorn.'”
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Willing to donate Kirel some clothes, Knesset lawmaker Moshe Gafni
(Photo: Yariv Katz, Amit Shaabi)
Amid the controversy, the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister invited Kirel to the country. "This invitation is to understand why she thinks about our homeland in this way, to explain why it offends us and why we do not agree. Also, to let her see with her own eyes the places where Nazi Germany committed crimes against Poles and Jews in our country.”
In another Kirel controversy, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli lawmaker, Moshe Gafni, mocked Kirel’s stage costume, or in his opinion, the lack thereof, and offered to donate her clothes, during a budget debate in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.