In June, Israeli Eurovision broadcaster KAN announced that its 2024 entrant would be the winner of the popular reality series HaKokhav HaBa, better known as Rising Star in English.
Filming of the qualifiers from the casting phase was set to begin this week, and was due to air on popular channel Keshet 12 in November. But tragic events of the past week appear to have impacted.
While no official announcement has been made by KAN, Israeli media outlet Mako reports:
“This season, Israel’s representative for Eurovision will be chosen in Rising Star, the filming of which was supposed to start this week – but was postponed according to the directives of the Home Front Command. We note that the Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the beginning of May in Malmö, Sweden, and Israel must notify the contest directors beforehand about a representative and a song that will represent it.”
Should Rising Star not proceed, Israel would retain the option of choosing an act internally, or withdrawing from Eurovision entirely.
But it may not be the only challenge. Russia was banned from the 2022 and 2023 events with their invasion of Ukraine deemed to be at odds with the event’s vision for harmony.
Ukraine, which has been defending its borders, has been permitted to continue, going on to win 2022 in a show of support for the besieged nation. If the conflict escalates in the Middle East, which looks inevitable, Israel will need to hope the EBU allows its inclusion, should the broadcaster be in a position to continue.
Tel Aviv hosted the 2019 event following a 2018 win by Netta with her song Toy in Lisbon 2018.
Source: ESCbubble
