Israel's Eurovision Journey: Fifth Place Finish Amidst Controversy

"From the first moment we had one goal - to make the strong voice of Israel known to the whole world and I know that we achieved this goal in a big way," continued Golan, who over the past week had to deal with harsh boos during the various performances and rehearsals for the competition.

"There were difficult moments, but with courage and huge support from you we didn't give up and gave everything. I want to thank everyone who supported me, my country, the amazing members of the delegation and my family that I can't wait to see and hug hard."
The 20-year-old singer also wanted to emphasize: "I do not forget for a moment our abductees and dedicate my participation in the competition to them. Israel lives!".
As mentioned, Israel finished in fifth place in the competition with the song "Hurricane", thanks to the audience's vote where it came in second place with 323 points. On the other hand, at the end of the judges' voting phase, Israel came in 12th place with only 52 points, after most of the judges' committees throughout Europe blatantly ignored Israel. At the same time, Switzerland, with the song The Code by Nemo, was announced as the big winner of Eurovision 2024, with Croatia - considered the leading candidate to win the competition according to the betting agencies - finishing in second place, followed by Ukraine in third place.
At the press conference held in front of the Israeli media, Golan referred to the place she had arrived at. "It's actually a victory. I've been through difficult things, but nothing about our people and our country. I love everyone so much," she said. "I'm really happy with the result - over the moon. I received a lot of love, out of this world and I was focused on the goal. I spread love and good energies. I can't control the votes of the judges. What's important is the audience and that really shows everything. The points we got show that people appreciate and love music Good, and music is stronger than anything, if you spread love, it will come back to you."
"The tears were waiting," she added in response to her tears at the end of her moving performance in the final. "In the end everything came out of me and still with everything I went through I feel amazing and proud." When asked if there were breaking points along the way, Golan said "No. The tears were also part of the joy. I didn't want it to end. I want to represent us on stage and sing 100 more times. With all the contempt. After the rehearsal yesterday I said: 'Shout even more.' Gave me strength to show what a beautiful nation we are with everything that is happening around, without the judges everything could have been - even a victory."
The director of the song, Yoav Tzafir, also summed up the evening and said: "They keep saying that Eurovision is not political - allow me to doubt it. We saw what the judges voted for and how the audience voted. It's amazing to see the love Aden received, it touched them. To see a 20-year-old girl, every So talented, and she doesn't deserve to be booed and many people felt it and wanted to hug her.
"I was naive and it surprised me," he answered.