At the end of her performance in the first semi-final, Nora Kirel said she had done “the maximum to represent the country (Israel) with pride”. “There is no excitement like that! I felt like every one of you was with me. I promise to do everything – and I mean everything – to continue to make the people of Israel happy during the grand finale scheduled for Saturday, added the interpreter of the song “Unicorn” in a statement from the Israeli public channel. Kan after the announcement of the results.
To read: Who is La Zarra, the Canadian-Moroccan who will represent France at Eurovision?
According to predictions, the singer will finish seventh in the competition, which would represent Israel’s best performance after Netta Barzilaï, winner of Eurovision 2018 with her song “Toy”. Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway are the other finalists at the end of this first semi-final. They will face the candidates from the second semi-final scheduled for Thursday, Ukraine, winners of last year, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy on Saturday. The Swede of Moroccan origin, Loreen, with her song “Tattoo”, is considered the great favorite of the competition this year.
To read: La Zarra and Loreen, two Moroccans at Eurovision 2023
Kirel is one of the most popular current singers in Israel. She was chosen to represent the country at Eurovision 2023 by an internal commission set up by the Kan public channel. A first, the last eight candidates having been selected in the context of reality TV competitions. Israel has already won Eurovision four times since its first participation in 1973, notably in 1978 with “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” by Yizhar Cohen, in 1979 with “Hallelujah” by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey, in 1998 with “Diva” by Dana International and in 2018 with “Toy” by Barzilaï.
