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Israel: Everything That Happened in the Third Episode of HaKokhav Haba!

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The third episode of HaKokhav Haba (special edition), the talent show that will determine the artist representing Israel at Eurovision 2025, aired on Sunday night, November 17.

In this episode, we witnessed five auditions, with only four contestants advancing to the next round, continuing their quest for a ticket to Basel. Hosts of HaKokhav Haba are Assi Azar and Rotem Sela, who have held this role since 2014. The judging panel consists of Shiri Maimon, Itay Levy, Assaf Amdorsky, Eden Hasson, Ran Dankar, and Keren Peles.

Contestants and Their Performances

Aviad Klein

At 25 years old, Aviad Klein has already composed songs for Eden Meiri, Yasmin Moalem, ShrekDiMC, and others. This marks his first appearance on stage as a singer. He performed Adele’s “When We Were Young,” showcasing impressive vocal abilities, earning an outstanding score of 96%.

Amit Sade

Amit Sade, a 23-year-old sales assistant, chose to sing “Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara. Her rare voice resembles that of international pop-soul stars, garnering unanimous approval from the judges. Amit advanced to the next stage with a score of 96%.

Tamir Vaknin

Tamir Vaknin revealed that he had a troubled youth, struggling with anger issues and spending time in rehabilitation institutions. With experience performing on small stages such as nightclubs and parties, Tamir sang “Eir Nemal” by Eyal Golan. He scored 81% and progressed to the next round, although Assaf Amdorsky voted against him.

Red Band and Moran Aharoni

The Red Band is an Israeli puppet performance group founded in 2005 by Ari Pepper, Micah Doman, and Ami Weisel, blending unique music with comedy. Featuring puppet characters like Red Auerbach (vocals), Poncho (guitar), and Lefty (keyboards), the group has toured both nationally and internationally, performing rock and folk song covers.

They were joined by Moran Aharoni, a singer-songwriter who rose to prominence on the fourth season of Kohav Nold. He later participated in The Next Star for Eurovision 2020, reaching the semifinals. Known for his wide vocal range, Moran brings drama to their act, while Red Band adds rock and comedy. Together, they performed “Human” by Rag’n’Bone Man, scoring 82%. Despite advancing, they received a negative vote from Assaf Amdorsky.

More About HaKokhav Haba

The show continues with more auditions in the upcoming episodes. From 2015 to 2020, HaKokhav Haba successfully secured Israel’s spot in Eurovision’s grand final every year, with Netta winning the competition in 2018 with her song “Toy.”

Last year’s winner of HaKokhav Haba and Israel’s Eurovision 2024 representative, Eden Golan, placed fifth in the final rankings with her song “Hurricane.”

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Israeli participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, in Basel!

Israel: All the highlights from the second episode of HaKokhav Haba!

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The highly anticipated Israeli selection process for Eurovision 2025 conitnued tonight with the second episode of HaKokhav Haba 2025. This competition, known in English as “The Next Star”, is the format used by Israel to choose its representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.

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Israel: KAN’s independence in danger according to the EBU!

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In an unusual move, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is responding to the Public Broadcasting Bill, which threatens KAN’s independence, potentially leading to Israel’s exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), responsible for the Eurovision Song Contest, has come out against a proposed bill that threatens to put Israel Public Broadcasting’s budget under state control. This move would effectively give the government the ability to step in and cut the company’s budget when it is not satisfied, which is currently impossible due to the company’s independence from government influence.

In a statement, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) commented:

“We are deeply concerned about the proposed legislation from the Israeli government that would allow them to change or cancel items in the public broadcaster’s budget, putting at risk the editorial and financial independence of public media. This development could be interpreted as an attempt by the Israeli government to exert greater direct control over KAN.”

The EBU calls for an immediate end to attempts by politicians to interfere with the company’s budget. Israel Public Radio commented in turn:

“The proposed bill is another attempt to harm the independence and existence of the public broadcasting corporation.”

Political Incentives and Economic Justifications

The bill was introduced by Avihai Boaron of the Likud party. The explanatory notes to the proposal state:

“The State of Israel is in the midst of the Swords of Iron war. In January 2024, the Governor of the Bank of Israel issued a press release stating that the total war expenses for 2023 to 2025 are expected to amount to about 220 billion new shekels. The government approved across-the-board cuts in all government ministry budgets to meet the commitments required due to the war.”

Despite this explanation, it’s hard not to take the company’s and the EBU’s statements into account. Communications Minister Shlomo Kar’i also opposes the company’s existence, at least in its current structure. He had previously stated:

“There is no place for public broadcasting that enjoys a public budget and harms competition.”

Consequences for Israel’s participation in Eurovision

If the independence of the public broadcaster is at stake, this situation could also jeopardize Israel’s ability to send an entry to Eurovision. If the government’s planned reform passes, Israel will stop sending an entry to the Eurovision contest like Russia, whose TV network independence was compromised, leading to its expulsion from the European Broadcasting Union.

Source: Euromix

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Sertab Erener’s reaction to Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2024

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Videos with reactions, as well as statements by Sertab Erener in this year’s participation of Israel – Hurricane with Eden Golan, have been circulating in the last few hours on the internet. The only winner of the competition for Turkey, condemned the participation of Israel, and with her grimaces, when Eden Golan performed her song on the stage of the contest, she showed her emotions.

The first excerpt is from the second semi-final, in which Israel also participated and in which Sertab Erener appeared as a guest, along with Elena Paparizou and Charlotte Perelli. Sertab Erener while preparing for her own performance in the dressing room, listens to Eden Golan perform Hurricane and her expressions are indicative of her feelings.

The second video is from the final. Sertab is watching the contest and at the time of the Israeli participation, she says to the camera that she is completely opposed to the presence of Israel in Eurovision 2025.

The above does not make any impression, since the Turkish government, but also to an overwhelming extent the Turkish society, is in favor even of the terrorist organization Hamas, many of its members, have found safe haven in Turkey. Israel in the previous decades was one of the closest allies with Turkey. However, in recent years and especially since Tayyip Erdoğan has taken over the government of the country, the two countries have drifted far apart, with Israel now having allied relations with Greece and Turkey considering itself the protector of Gaza, but and the terrorists operating there.

Watch Sertab Erener’s performance in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zITpWTXZjgk

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Israel: Stylist kicked out of Eurovision venue for filming contestant!

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Shortly before the final dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest grand final on Saturday, representatives from Greece, Ireland and Switzerland clashed with Israeli contestant Eden Golan‘s stylist Itay Bezaleli in an unusual incident.

He has since returned to the event, but the Israeli broadcasting corporation reported that at the organizers’ request, “the Israeli delegation was moved to a different room within the delegation area. Eden Golan and her team are solely focused on tonight’s performance, striving to ensure it is professional and represents Israel in the most honorable and appropriate manner.”

Israeli representatives explained that the move was designed to distance the Israeli team from the nearby Irish delegation. In an unusual occurrence for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the final dress rehearsal started 17 minutes late. Representatives from Ireland, Greece and Switzerland—Bambie Thug, Marina Satti, and Nemo, who were mentioned by Bezaleli in his story—were absent from the delegation presentation at the start of the rehearsal. The EBU clarified that the representatives were not obligated to participate in the delegation presentation.

Irish contestant Bambie Thug did not appear at the rehearsal and shared on social media that there was “a situation while we were waiting to go to the stage for the flag parade rehearsal which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU – the EBU have taken this matter seriously and we have been in a discussion about what action needs to be taken. This means I have missed my dress rehearsal – I am really sorry to the fans that have come to see me. I hope to see you on the stage tonight.”

Source: ynetnews

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Breaking News: EBU in crisis meeting following strong reactions in the Dutch delegation!

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The disqualification of Dutch artist Joost Klein has provoked strong reactions in the Dutch delegation. The EBU is currently in a crisis meeting, according to information to SVT.

As you have previously read in our past article, Joost Klein and the Dutch delegation have been disqualified from participating in the contest, following an incident with a person working for the production of the contest and a filed complaint.

Currently, the situation is being investigated by the Swedish police and both sides are being interrogated.

Source: SVT Nyheter

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Breaking News: Alessandra withdrew from being the Norwegian spokesperson!

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Alessandra Mele was scheduled to hand out points on behalf of Norway during tonight’s final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Now, however, Dagbladet has confirmed that she is withdrawing from that task.

Channel host Ingvild Helljesen takes over the task.

Source: Dagbladet

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Breaking News: Bambie Thug didn’t perform at the afternoon preview of the Grand Final!

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Bambie Thug, the Irish representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, has made headlines for their unique style and impressive vocal performance. However, as the afternoon preview show of the Grand Final is on-going it is noticed that they did not perform on stage.

The reasons behind this decision are not clear yet, Bambie earlier posted a story letting their fan know what has happened:

Bambie story

Bambie story

Bambie Thug, known for their ‘goth gremlin’ persona, has been praised for their dramatic staging and has become the first Irish delegate to make it through to the Eurovision final since 2018 and the first non-binary contestant to ever qualify to the finals in the history of the contest.

Their absence from the preview show is sure to be a disappointment for their fans and viewers alike. We look forward to more updates on this situation.

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Eurovision 2024: EBU in crisis meeting! | Joost Klein stopped from rehearsing this afternoon!

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As you read in one of our previous articles, one of the big favorites, Dutch Joost Klein, didn’t show up at the rehearsal for the Eurovision final earlier today.

Svergies Radio’s Carolina Norén, reported from within the press centre that the EBU is currently in a crisis meeting investigating an incident they say occurred yesterday.

She mentioned that she could actually see towards the Dutch box where Joost Klein is supposed to be and the Dutch delegation is waiting for a decision.

She also asked the Israeli delegation briefly, if they had reported anything but they denied anything like that. It was at yesterday’s press conference that it was noticed that Joost Klein had the Dutch flag on him.

Last night, when the Israeli participant Eden Golan received a critical question regarding security concerns on this year’s contest, and the moderators interrupted and said she wouldn’t need to respond, Joost then asked, why not? But this is unclear that the Dutch favourite was stopped from performing earlier for that reason.

According to information to SVT, a physical confrontation has occurred between the artist and a photographer.

So we have to wait for an official statement from the EBU and hope that things clear up a bit. Joost Klein is still in the arena, the Netherlands delegation is sitting and waiting for a decision.

Source: Sveriges Radio/SVT

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Eurovision 2024: See in which half each of the 10 qualifiers of the Second Semi-Final will perform!

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The Press Conference of the Second Semi-Final is now live in the Press Center, with the 10 qualifiers interviewing and selecting from the pot in which half they perform.

This year there is an extra choice for them. Producer’s choice is added for the qualifiers.

The detailed results are:

  • Greece (First Half)
  • Switzerland (Producer’s Choice)
  • Austria (Second Half)
  • Armenia (Producer’s Choice)
  • Latvia (Producer’s Choice)
  • Georgia (Producer’s Choice)
  • Estonia (Producer’s Choice)
  • Israel (Producer’s Choice)
  • Norway (Second Half)
  • The Netherlands (Producer’s Choice)

Source: Eurovision Reddit

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