“It’s such a big contest – hundreds of millions of people watching,” says Noam Bettan, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter representing Israel in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest. But chatting with the JC ahead of the event, taking place in Vienna next week, Bettan is surprisingly relaxed.
“I worked my ass off to get to this point, and I just feel very proud of myself and very, very honoured to represent my people and my country,” he says.
He is not taking that fact – being able to represent his country in Eurovision – for granted. Because, just a few weeks earlier, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) assembled in Geneva to discuss whether Israel should be permitted to participate in this year’s contest.
The divisive question came after two years of anti-Israel protests and threats by various European broadcasters to boycott Eurovision if Israel continued to participate. There were also unsubstantiated allegations that an Israeli government agency had unfairly influenced the Eurovision voting system in 2025 after Israeli contestant Yuval Raphael won the popular vote and finished in second place for her performance of the October 7-inspired ballad New Day Will Rise.
Five countries – Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and the Netherlands – have now withdrawn from the 2026 contest over Israel’s participation.
Bettan, whose smile appears easily and often during our brief chat, is not letting the furore get to him.
“I’m trying to see the love of God in everything and in every opportunity,” he says. “Even if you have something that hurts you along the way.”
Bettan has been making waves in the Israeli music scene ever since he released his breakout single Buba in 2022, but it was only when he won Israel’s national Eurovision selection contest, HaKokhav HaBa (Rising Star), in January that his journey to the international competition stage in Vienna began.
His Eurovision success hinges on the catchy yet emotive song Michelle, a pop track about a toxic love affair that Bettan helped co-write along with Nadav Aharoni, Tzlil Klifi and 2025 Eurovision alumnus Raphael.
With verses in French, Hebrew and English, the trilingual song is a reflection of Bettan’s own multicultural background as the child of French Jewish parents who immigrated to Israel before he was born.
“French is half of my heart,” Bettan says. “It’s the language I speak with the people I’m closest to.”
He also counts French-language singers as some of his primary musical influences, especially the Belgian artist Stromae, whose hip-hop and electronic-inspired sound can be heard throughout Michelle.
“It makes you want to dance, and that’s an amazing thing about this song,” Bettan says. He believes Eurovision viewers from any linguistic background can enjoy it: “Music has the power to give people goosebumps and feel a lot of emotions even without understanding every word, because it can go beyond language. If a song is good, it can free your mind – I just want to give people this freedom.”
Having grown up in Ra’anana in central Israel, Bettan says he’s always been “very connected to my Jewish side,” which has instilled in him a deep sense of spirituality and admiration for the Jewish people. He hopes that, when they watch him perform on Eurovision, Jewish audience members “feel that they are not alone.
“I want them to feel that they are connected, and that they are loved. I want to give all my love, everything I have in my heart, and make them feel good about themselves, because when you feel good about yourself, you can be good to others,” he says.
As for his own experience of the competition, Bettan is just focused on giving “the best performance I can”, and he’s following the wisdom of his predecessor, Raphael.
“[Yuval] told me just to enjoy the most I can, because it’s a memory that won’t come back – it’s a one-time event,” Bettan says.
“I won’t be doing Eurovision a second time.”
But what is Bettan most looking forward to about his Eurovision experience in the Austrian capital city?
“I can’t wait for the schnitzel, for the legendary schnitzel of Vienna. I’m really excited to come and eat schnitzel.”
Noam Bettan will represent Israel with KAN’s delegation to the Eurovision on the first semi-final on Tuesday, May 12. The final takes place on May 16
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