Israel’s Noam Bettan is set to represent his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna with a song titled Michelle, public broadcaster Kan has announced.
The song, which contains lyrics in Hebrew, English and French and will be revealed in full on March 5, was co-written by a Nova Festival massacre survivor, Yuval Raphael, who achieved second place for Israel at the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland.
An expert committee tasked by Kan to select this year’s song narrowed 200 submissions down to four potential entries, all of which Bettan recorded, before the panel committee picked a winner.
Kan noted that Michelle was a “different sound and rhythm from the songs that represented Israel in the competition over the past two years”, when the country entered ballads.
The submission is currently being considered by the European Broadcasting Union, which organises the annual musical extravaganza scheduled for May.
The son of French immigrant parents, Bettan, 27, from the central city of Ra’anana, was nominated as Israel’s contestant after winning the finale of the HaKokhav HaBa (“The Next Star”) TV competition in January.
Bettan began his musical career during his compulsory military service and first gained national attention in 2018 after coming in third in the musical reality TV competition Aviv or Eyal.
In 2024, he released the single Pokeach Einayim, which was based on lyrics by IDF staff sergeant Yaron Oree Shay, a soldier from the Nahal Brigade who was killed fighting terrorists on October 7 2023.
Israel was cleared to compete in Eurovision after other broadcasters abandoned a proposal to bar its participation, following reforms intended to enhance the event’s “transparency and neutrality.”
The decision was made during a gathering held on December 4 at the EBU’s Geneva headquarters to consider rules aimed at reducing “influence” over voting by governments and third parties.
Broadcasters in Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have said their countries will boycott the contest in protest of the EBU’s decision to allow Israel to participate.
Israel’s involvement in the contest has proved particularly controversial after the onset of its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Both Eden Golan, in 2024, and Raphael were subject to widespread abuse, and death threats, and were forced to bring with them large security details.
Israel has participated in Eurovision 46 times since being admitted to the competition in 1973, and has won four times, most recently in 2918, when artist Netta won over judges and audiences with her quirky entry Toy.
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