Shortly before the final dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest grand final on Saturday, representatives from Greece, Ireland and Switzerland clashed with Israeli contestant Eden Golan's stylist Itay Bezaleli in an unusual incident.
In a now-deleted social media, Bezaleli said that he, along with others, was filming the Swiss, Irish and Greek representatives when "the Greek yelled at me, 'Don't film!' and flipped me off. Even though I wasn't the only one filming, she singled me out." Following the incident, Bezaleli was removed from the arena.
Delegations presented on Eurovision stage
(Video: Avi Zeikner, Euromix)
He has since returned to the event, but the Israeli broadcasting corporation reported that at the organizers' request, “the Israeli delegation was moved to a different room within the delegation area. Eden Golan and her team are solely focused on tonight's performance, striving to ensure it is professional and represents Israel in the most honorable and appropriate manner."
Israeli representatives explained that the move was designed to distance the Israeli team from the nearby Irish delegation.
In an unusual occurrence for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the final dress rehearsal started 17 minutes late. Representatives from Ireland, Greece and Switzerland—Bambie Thug, Marina Satti, and Nemo, who were mentioned by Bezaleli in his story—were absent from the delegation presentation at the start of the rehearsal. The EBU clarified that the representatives were not obligated to participate in the delegation presentation.
Irish contestant Bambie Thug did not appear at the rehearsal and shared on social media that there was “a situation while we were waiting to go to the stage for the flag parade rehearsal which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU - the EBU have taken this matter seriously and we have been in a discussion about what action needs to be taken. This means I have missed my dress rehearsal - I am really sorry to the fans that have come to see me. I hope to see you on the stage tonight.”
Meanwhile, Irish broadcaster RTÉ News reported that Bambie Thug had approached the competition organizers regarding comments made by Kan commentators Akiva Novick and Asaf Liberman before her semi-final performance on Tuesday.
Bambie Thug claims that their remarks violated Eurovision rules and, therefore, Israel should be disqualified from the competition. "There's a lot more anger and a lot more drive in me now," she said in an interview with the network.
During the first semi-final broadcast, the commentators seemed to mock the act’s witchcraft theme and satanic symbolism, urging viewers to “get the kids away from the television set.” The pair also mentioned that “the act is also causing discomfort in Ireland” and jokingly pointed out the use of non-gendered language by the songstress who identifies as non-binary.
The commentator also noted that Bambie Thug liked to "speak negatively about Israel".
"But we can talk about that later. Prepare your curses," he said.
According to RTÉ, the EBU has been in talks with Kan and “reiterated the importance of all commentators respecting all the artists taking part in the competition and abiding by the rules and regulations of the event.”
Saturday’s rehearsal was delayed by an hour after the EBU confirmed that Dutch representative Joost Klein was disqualified from the competition following a violent incident against a production staff member who filed a police complaint. Klein was scheduled to perform his song Europapa before Eden Golan's act.
Before the EBU announced his disqualification, six countries had threatened to withdraw from the contest, with many delegations believing the sanction was due to his offensive behavior toward the Israeli delegation and Eden Golan.
Klein covered himself while Golan spoke at a press conference following the semi-finals. At the same event, a Polish journalist asked the 20-year-old singer if she thought her participation endangered the other contestants, to which the event host advised her that she was not obligated to respond. Klein then intervened, questioning why she should avoid answering the question.
Golan took to the stage Saturday and performed Hurricane to deafening boos, yet she sang excellently, precisely and appeared relaxed. During the final part of the song in Hebrew, the boos intensified, but the journalists responded with applause.
"Eden was perfect, calm and precise. We continue to spread love and confidence in the face of the haters. I believe in the victory," the delegation's director Yoav Tzafir told Ynet.
The Israeli representative's journey to this moment was not easy, but for this rehearsal, she was ranked second in the betting odds, with a 20% chance of winning the contest. In rehearsals prior to the semi-final and during the broadcast itself, the Israeli representative faced high levels of booing from the audience and chants of "Free Palestine," yet the semi-final saw more cheers than boos, and Golan secured her place in the final and rose in the betting odds.