‘October Rain’, Israel’s proposed entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, causes a storm

Even before this week’s tumult, Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Malmö, Sweden, had cast a shadow over the event. As the death toll from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has risen, hundreds of musicians in Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, among others, have signed petitions urging the European Broadcasting Union to ban Israel, following a similar decision in 2022 to to ban Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

The European Broadcasting Union has repeatedly rejected the comparison between Israel and Russia. “We understand the concerns and deeply held views surrounding the current conflict in the Middle East,” the union said in a statement this month, but the Eurovision Song Contest was “not a competition between governments.”

At this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Israel will be represented by Eden Golan, a 20-year-old pop singer who was selected earlier this month when she won the TV talent show ‘Rising Star’, singing a cover of Aerosmith. During that show’s finale, Golan referred to the approximately 130 hostages Israel says Hamas is holding in Gaza. “Things won’t really start going well for us until everyone returns home,” she said.

However, it is not up to her alone which song Golan will sing at the Eurovision Song Contest. Kan has been evaluating potential songs, and while it has submitted “October Rain” for approval, the broadcaster is not scheduled to officially announce the Israeli song until March 10, allowing time to change it if necessary.

Throughout the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union has occasionally intervened when it detected political undertones in proposed entries, says Chris West, the author of a history of the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2009 he said: Georgia withdrawn from the match because the organizers objected to a song called “We don’t want to stop there.” The song was seen as a statement against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, West said.

And in 2015, Armenia changed the title of its entry “Don’t Deny,” as it was widely interpreted as a reference to Turkey’s denial of the Ottoman Empire’s genocide of the Armenians. The song was renamed “Face the Shadow,” West said.