Israeli performer Noam Bettan advanced in the annual Eurovision Song Contest as tensions mounted over his country’s ...

Vienna's coffeehouses have embraced the Eurovision Song Contest, but tensions over Israel’s participation have surfaced.

Representing Israel, which has won Eurovision four times, Bettan performed an upbeat pop track largely in French.

Noam Bettan, Israel’s Eurovision candidate who took second place in the competition, sang in three languages, and chose to start his performance in Hebrew. Meanwhile, the winner — from Bulgaria — sang ...

Bettan's first performance of "Michelle" at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle drew applause as well as boos and whistles.

AL-MONITOR is an award-winning media outlet covering the Middle East, valued for its independence, diversity and analysis. It is read widely by US, international and Middle East decision makers at the ...

08/01/2026 - Ruben Östlund, Pedro Almodóvar, Marie Kreutzer and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (in French) top our annual preview of the upcoming 12 months’ cinematic treats Observing the past year, it truly feels ...

Glitter, vocal gymnastics, on-stage flames — the show goes on on the Eurovision stage in Vienna, even though five countries ...