Israeli Eurovision entrant Noam Bettan has begun last-minute rehearsals for this year’s song contest in Vienna by having his team boo at him. Amid ongoing tensions over Israel’s participation, and a boycott of countries including Ireland, the 28-year-old is rehearsing his song, Michelle, in an unnamed secure location.
“In rehearsals I have a team that always makes sure to boo me to make it difficult for me, that really helps a lot,” Bettan told Germany’s Bild tabloid ahead of next week’s contest. “I am just trying to concentrate on the rehearsals and my performance on the stage – and to enjoy it.”
Bettan said he had learned from last year’s Israeli entrant, Yuval Raphael, who was booed during her performance. His training has physical and mental components, he told Bild, from squats and jumping jacks to a pre-performance meditation.
“I always say the Shema Israel prayer,” he said. “It may sound like a cliche but God is with me, I feel it really and that gives me strength. I feel how he leads me on the path I’ve been going down for many years.
“Now everything will lead to this amazing moment,” he added, “on the largest stage in the world.”
Some 600km (372.8 miles) away at the Venice Biennale, the largest art platform in the world opens officially on Saturday. There, Israel’s artistic representative Belu-Simion Fainaru says he has been widely shunned by other artists.
A native of Bucharest, Fainaru’s work, Rose of Nothingness, is on show at the Arsenale while the official Israeli pavilion is undergoing renovations.
“I am talking to no one and am completely isolated. That hurts. Particularly as I am surrounded by people working for other pavilions,” he told Die Welt daily. “I believe in dialogue, and am used to it from earlier exhibitions, but whomever I turned to here to greet, they turn away from me. I have had interaction with not a single artist or curator at the Biennale.”
This year’s Biennale has been gripped by controversy over the participation of Israel and Russia. On March 13th, 74 artists and curators from the main exhibition sent a letter to the director Pietrangelo Buttafuoco calling for the exclusion of those two countries and the United States, writing: “There is a threshold beyond which participation in La Biennale should not be normalised.”
Fainaru, a sculptor and installation artist who moved to Israel as a teenager, said his Venice shunning reminded him of the 1940s, “when people like me were threatened, and everyone went along with it”.
Ahead of the official opening, the prize jury resigned in protest at the inclusion of Russia and Israel, prompting organisers to announce prizes will be awarded by public vote.
Unlike Eurovision, Ireland is not boycotting the Biennale and is represented by five artists.
[ The Irish artists at Venice Biennale 2026Opens in new window ]
