Watch: Eden Golan, Israel’s Eurovision 2024 representative, performed “October Rain” at the UN memorial for the one-year anniversary of October 7th. The song was disqualified by the EBU before its new version, “Hurricane,” was approved.
Yesterday, as part of the memorial events marking one year since the October 7th massacre, Eden Golan, Israel’s representative at Eurovision 2024, performed at the remembrance ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York, USA. She sang “October Rain,” the song that was originally intended to represent Israel at Eurovision 2024 in Malmรถ but was disqualified by the European Broadcasting Union. As you may recall, this song formed the basis for “Hurricane,” which was eventually approved by the EBU for the competition and with which Eden finished fifth for Israel in the last Eurovision.
Eden Golan: From Eurovision to UN – A Symbol of Israeli Resilience
At the UN memorial ceremony, Eden paid tribute to the fallen, victims of the massacre and war, and of course to the hostages held for a year in Gaza by the terrorist organization Hamas. Eden has become one of the symbols of the war and Israeli public diplomacy in the past year, thanks to her participation in Eurovision 2024 for Israel during times of raging antisemitism, boycotts against Israel, and support for terrorism. Since completing her role as Israel’s representative in Malmรถ, Eden continues to perform in Israel and around the world with her Eurovision song, meet with families of hostages, and engage with Jewish communities.
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โ Ran Boker ืจื ืืืงืจ (@ranboker) October 7, 2024
“October Rain”: A Powerful Message on the Global Stage
The song “October Rain” expresses more explicitly and literally than “Hurricane” the events of the war and the October 7th massacre by the Hamas terrorist organization a year ago. To allow Israel’s participation in the competition, the song’s creators amended the controversial lyrics and changed its title to “Hurricane,” thus gaining EBU approval for the contest. After Eurovision, where Israel defied all odds to finish 5th in the final and 2nd in the public vote, Eden Golan performed the original version, “October Rain,” several times, mainly in contexts related to the war and the 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Yesterday was perhaps the most moving and important performance yet, as Israel’s 2024 representative sang at the United Nations headquarters during the memorial ceremony marking one year since the events of October 7th. Although this wasn’t Eden’s first major performance – after all, she performed at Eurovision with millions watching worldwide – the setting undoubtedly embraced and honored the song’s content and context more than her Eurovision 2024 performance, which was marred by boos, curses, and humiliating shouts from the arena audience.
At yesterday’s ceremony, Eden sang “October Rain” in front of ambassadors, important public figures from around the world, key figures in Jewish communities and Israel, and of course, families whose loved ones were injured or murdered in the terrible massacre, as well as families of hostages who have been struggling for over a year to see their loved ones again. Foreign Minister Israel Katz chose Eden Golan to participate in the ceremony at the UN headquarters and led the delegation to New York.
Israel in Eurovision 2024
“Hurricane” is the name of the song performed by singer Eden Golan, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the tenth season of “HaKochav Haba”. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 194 points, and in the grand final reached fifth place with 375 points. In the public vote, Israel came in second place, just 14 points behind the first place.
This is the second consecutive time that Israel has reached the top five, an achievement it had not attained since its streak of successes in 1998-1999.
Eurovision 2024: This was Israel’s 46th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the competition in 1973 and has won it four times over the years. Israel’s last victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy” performed by singer Netta Barzilai.