The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) have approved Israel's revised entry, the first version of which they considered too political.
Israel will now take part in the contest, Israeli public broadcaster Kan announced on Thursday, citing the organizers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Geneva. The broadcaster is one of the organizations that participates in the ESC. The Israeli competitor, Eden Golan, will perform the rewritten song, which is now called "Hurricane," in Sweden in May.
On Sunday evening, the singer will perform the song for the first time on Israeli television. The song has the same melody as its predecessor "October Rain," which had been deemed too political by the organizers. According to media reports, the song refers to the massacre by militants from the Palestinian extremist group Hamas in Israel on October 7.
In a statement Kan said that by changing the lyrics, it was also complying with a request from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who had approached the broadcaster's board of directors. Herzog argued in favour of his country's participation in the ESC at a time when those who hated the country were trying to exclude and boycott it.
The broadcaster had initially said that it did not want to edit the text, but then reversed its decision. If it had not done so, Israel would not have been allowed to compete in the ESC.
Swedish artists, among others, had called for Israel to be excluded from the ESC because of the war in Gaza, an argument the organizers have rejected.