{"id":92594,"date":"2026-05-17T22:01:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=92594"},"modified":"2026-05-17T22:01:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:01:42","slug":"israels-noam-bettan-takes-2nd-at-eurovision-buoyed-by-scrutinized-public-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israels-noam-bettan-takes-2nd-at-eurovision-buoyed-by-scrutinized-public-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Noam Bettan takes 2nd at Eurovision, buoyed by scrutinized public vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 The Israeli contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest won second place for the second year in a row, drawing a strong public vote despite protests over Israel\u2019s inclusion in the contest.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_92595\" style=\"width: 268px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92595\" class=\"wp-image-92595 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-258x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"258\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-258x300.jpg 258w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-881x1024.jpg 881w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-768x892.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-1322x1536.jpg 1322w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-1763x2048.jpg 1763w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 258px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 258\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92595\" class=\"wp-image-92595 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-258x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"258\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-258x300.jpg 258w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-881x1024.jpg 881w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-768x892.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-1322x1536.jpg 1322w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Noam_Bettan_1_cropped-1763x2048.jpg 1763w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-92595\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of Noam Bettan taken in 2025. (Photo by Yair Sigron via Wikimedia)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Noam Bettan and his song \u201cMichelle\u201d ranked third in the public vote and eighth in the jury vote, which combined to give him second place behind the entry from Bulgaria, which won the contest for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Bettan thanked his fans in a post on Instagram after leaving the stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still processing everything and trying to find the words for this incredible journey. You guys are amazing and this is all because of you. I love every single one of you!\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis is just the beginning, there are so many amazing things in the way! \ud83e\udd0dAm Israel Chai!!!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Five countries boycotted the contest this year over Israel\u2019s inclusion, citing Israel\u2019s military operations in Gaza. After the competition, a spokesperson for VRT, Belgium\u2019s national broadcaster, said the country was unlikely to participate next year unless the European Broadcasting Union, which runs the contest, makes \u201ca clear statement against war and violence and for respect for human rights.\u201d Belgium came in 21st of 25 competitors in the final.<\/p>\n<p>Bettan faced a smattering of boos both during the semifinal on Tuesday and during the final on Saturday in Vienna, as well as when Israel briefly led the leaderboard during the announcement of the audience votes. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency ahead of the final that he believed he had more fans than detractors and that he would focus on them.<\/p>\n<p>Israel scored 220 points in the public vote after drawing a formal warning from the EBU for its campaign urging supporters to send all 10 of their votes to Bettan. Israel\u2019s broadcaster called off the campaign after being told it was \u201cnot in line with our rules nor the spirit of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israel also drew 123 points from national juries, more than twice what it earned last year when 22 countries awarded Israel no points at all in a result seen as driven in part by political tensions.<\/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%20Noam%20Bettan%20takes%202nd%20at%20Eurovision%2C%20buoyed%20by%20scrutinized%20public%20vote\";<\/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":92595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7137],"tags":[7834,8790,8795,8788,15179],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92594"}],"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=92594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92596,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92594\/revisions\/92596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}