{"id":80902,"date":"2024-05-10T10:36:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T15:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=80902"},"modified":"2024-05-10T16:11:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T21:11:58","slug":"israels-eden-golan-advances-to-eurovision-final-as-thousands-protest-in-malmo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israels-eden-golan-advances-to-eurovision-final-as-thousands-protest-in-malmo\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Eden Golan advances to Eurovision final as thousands protest in Malm\u00f6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By SHIRA LI BARTOV<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Israeli singer Eden Golan advanced to Eurovision\u2019s final on Thursday night, hours after thousands of people protested her inclusion in the contest while Israel\u2019s war against Hamas in Gaza continues.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_80903\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80903\" class=\"wp-image-80903 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN.jpg 846w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/207;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80903\" class=\"wp-image-80903 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/EDEN.jpg 846w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-80903\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eden Golan. (Photo by Jens B\u00fcttner\/picture alliance via Getty Images))<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In Malm\u00f6, the Swedish port city hosting the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, Golan\u2019s performance of her song \u201cHurricane\u201d received a mix of boos and cheers during Thursday\u2019s semifinal, though the booing was heavily muffled for at-home viewers in the TV broadcast. One man waving a Palestinian flag in the audience appeared to be escorted out by security.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eurovision guidelines ban flags other than the national flags of contestants and the pride flag, meaning that Palestinian flags were not allowed in the Malm\u00f6 Arena. Previously, a singer was reprimanded for wearing a keffiyeh, or Palestinian scarf.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the public outcry against her participation, viewers voted Golan through to the final, apparently buoyed by a large share of votes from Italy. She rose through bookmaker rankings to third place by Friday morning, although Croatia remains a clear favorite with singer Baby Lasagna\u2019s track \u201cRim Tim Tagi Dim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Thursday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined a demonstration against Israel\u2019s participation in the global song contest, which has adopted the slogan, \u201cUnited by Music.\u201d Local police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part in the street protest condemning Israel\u2019s military campaign&nbsp; in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire, surrounded by a heavy police presence. Demonstrators set off smoke flares in the colors of the Palestinian flag in Malm\u00f6\u2019s central square.<\/p>\n<p>The protest was loud but largely peaceful and resulted in few arrests, according to police. A pro-Israel rally nearby drew about 120 people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Larger numbers of people are expected to flood the streets on Saturday, when Golan competes in Eurovision\u2019s final. Artists and activists have called on the contest to ban Israel for weeks, accusing the competition of a double standard after excluding Russia shortly after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Eurovision organizers have contended that Russia was banned specifically because its broadcasters breached \u201cmembership obligations\u201d and violated \u201cpublic service values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some protesters have organized alternative events in Malm\u00f6, such as \u201cFalastinVision,\u201d billed as a \u201cgenocide-free song contest\u201d that will host 15 artists from eight countries at a live show scheduled the same time as Eurovision\u2019s final, just a few miles away.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Israel%E2%80%99s%20Eden%20Golan%20advances%20to%20Eurovision%20final%20as%20thousands%20protest%20in%20Malm%C3%B6\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":80903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27,7137],"tags":[13754,7834,8781,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80904,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80902\/revisions\/80904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}