Bambie Thug, the Irish entry into the Eurovision 2024 contest, said Saturday that she cried in disappointment when she learned that the Israeli singer, Eden Golan, had qualified for the finals in Malmö, Sweden.
“I cried with my team.” Ireland 🇮🇪 Eurovision finalist Bambie Thug is asked how they felt when Israel qualified for the #EUROVISION final. pic.twitter.com/wE1F8xeU7E
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) May 10, 2024
Bambie Thug’s song, “Doomsday Blue,” features pentagrams, Satanic symbols, and other elements of “Wiccan” practice.
Israel’s entry, “Hurricane,” is an allegory that refers vaguely to surviving the October 7 terror attack. The lyrics were toned down to qualify for the competition, which prohibits any political statements in the music or at the venue.
Golan’s song turns out to have been a surprise hit, dominating viewer votes. After qualifying for the final, she climbed to the top of oddsmaker’s predictions, and is favored to finish first or second when the final judges’ scores are done.
Ireland has been one of the most critical countries when it comes to Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists.
Bambie Thug has objected repeatedly to Golan’s presence at the competition — so much so that she canceled her dress rehearsal performance over an apparent dispute regarding Israel’s presence. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) moved Golan’s dressing room to be further away from Thug’s dressing room because of Thug’s behavior.
Other contestants and judges also found ways to display their intolerance toward Israel’s presence at the competition.
Finnish Eurovision representative REFUSES to announce 12 points judges score to Israel during rehearsal.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 11, 2024
The woman instead says ‘Ireland’, leading to the host giving her a chance to correct herself- but instead she again says ‘Ireland.’
Host: “I think we have somewhat of a… pic.twitter.com/nDnXNUofZY
37 year old Greek Eurovision entry Marina Satti behaves like a CHILD as she pretends to be asleep for the cameras as Israeli singer Eden Golan spoke at a press conference. pic.twitter.com/PojFwUc1AB
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 10, 2024
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched in the streets of Malmö for days, and Golan has required a police escort — including 100 officers — to protect her amid threats and aggressive anti-Israel activists.
100 Swedish police officers are transporting the 20-y-old singer Eden Golan between her hotel & Malmö Arena ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 11, 2024
Apart from the long convoy of vehicles, you can hear a police helicopter flying above.
Malmö is a city with serious problems
🇸🇪🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/JSYaWtNnKC
For her part, Golan kept the tone positive, thanking Israelis and fans throughout the world for their support:
View this post on Instagram
Israelis have celebrated Golan as a symbol of persistence against antisemitism, and are hosting viewing parties to watch the competition. A first-place finish would mean that Israel would host the Eurovision finals in 2025.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
