Each song undergoes a review process, and a few minor adjustments were requested by EBU officials, which the Israeli songwriters agreed to. In 2024, Israel’s initial song submission, “October Rain,” was rejected because its lyrics were deemed too political, a violation of the EBU’s rules.
The lyrics referred to the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people, which started the current war. After some negotiations, a revised version of the song, renamed “Hurricane,” was approved just before the deadline.
Yuval Raphael, who was Israel’s representative to Eurovision in 2025 and finished second overall, co-wrote this year’s song, along with Nadav Aharoni and Tzlil Kalifi. Noam Bettan, Israel’s 2026 representative, will perform it at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna in May.
It has happened before that a previous Israeli Eurovision representative has written a song for another contestant. This was the case in 1983, when Avi Toledano composed a song, “Chai,” for Ofra Haza, after he was a Eurovision contestant himself.
Bettan won the television talent contest, Kochav Haba (The Next Star) for Eurovision. The song will be revealed in a special broadcast on March 5 on KAN 11, Israel’s government broadcaster.
Bettan is scheduled to perform in the first semifinal on May 12. The second semifinal will be held two days later, and the grand final will take place on May 16.