Israel’s 2026 entry is Noam Bettan with ‘Michelle’, selected after Bettan won HaKokhav HaBa and released by KAN on 5 March. Musically, it’s a useful change of tone. After a run of entries investing heavily in an ironic wish for peace, ‘Michelle’ feels more like the Israel that used to arrive with a song first and a message somewhere further down the page. It’s a mid-tempo number with a looser, more wandering shape and personality.
That personality comes largely from the language mix and from Bettan himself. Born to a French family and raised in Ra’anana, he folds French into the song naturally, alongside Hebrew and English, and it’s the French sections that give ‘Michelle’ much of its character. There’s more than a faint chanson vibe to the verses. The chorus lifts it into more recognisably modern Eurovision territory without flattening the whole thing into generic contest paste. It’s a million miles from being flawless. The English lyrics are weak, and the song has an air of being assembled in Zoom meetings. Even so, it’s well assembled and way more distinctive than last year’s entry.
Context matters
The context, of course, is unavoidable. The EBU said in December that all members willing to comply with the new rules were eligible to take part in Vienna. Israel’s inclusion soon became one of the contest’s defining fault lines. Five broadcasters are boycotting the 2026 event over Israel’s participation. ORF has said it will not drown out booing during Bettan’s performance. So whatever Noam does on stage, he’ll be performing in circumstances few other artists have to face.
On pure results, though, Israel has been in formidable recent shape: Noa Kirel finished 3rd in 2023, Eden Golan 5th in 2024, and Yuval Raphael 2nd in 2025. Kan isn’t a broadcaster stumbling around in the dark.
As for 2026, this feels like a credible qualifier and a plausible top-ten song on musical terms alone. Juries could respond to its control, structure and multilingual polish. Televoters may well connect too. Though here more than anywhere else the wider context (and let’s be up-front, a history of dubious televote practices) makes prediction tricky. Were this representing a less contested broadcaster, and perhaps wearing a French rosette, people might simply call it classy and move on. As it is, ‘Michelle’ looks likely to be judged both as a song and as an event. On the song itself, it holds up rather well.
7 Points
