Eurovision 2024: Social media outrage over participation of Israel ‘when Ukraine and Israel get most votes from…’

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Also Read: Eurovision 2024 final mired in controversy over Israeli participation, expulsion of Dutch contestant | 5 points The voice of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters demonstrating in Malmo reverberated on social media as several users criticised Israel's participation and its performance. Swiss singer Nemo won the contest and became the first non-binary artist to lift the trophy. However, what drew social media's attention was the significant amount of scores awarded to the Israeli contestant.

Amid social media backlash of the event because of Israel's participation, many users came in support of the country and called it unfair to criticise a participant only because of his/her identity. Amid calls for Israel's expulsion from the event because of its airstrike in Gaza, the country was allowed to participate in the competition. However, the participant was told to change the title of its song, which was originally called ‘October Rain’ because of its reference to Hamas' attack on October 7.

The title of the song was changed to ‘Hurricane’ and was performed by singer Eden Golan. Despite the victory of the first non-binary artist in Eurovision this year, Israel's participation amid the ongoing war against Hamas remained one of the most discussed issues on social media on Saturday. While many criticised Israel's participation, several others supported the nation on social media.

“Israel getting 323 public votes ??!! who are these voters??!!," wrote an X user after Israel's impressive vote numbers at the event. “ISRAEL HAS OFFICIALLY FAILED TO WIN THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST. This is despite the fact they tried so hard to garner support on social media.