Nadav Guedj
Photo: Rafi Daloya
Israel to compete in Eurovision final after 5-year absence
'Golden Boy' goes for the gold: 16-year-old Nadav Guedj wins crowd over in Vienna, catapulting Israel to the Eurovision Song Contest finals for the first time since 2010.
Israel's Nadav Guedj
will be performing at Saturday's 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna after making it through Thursday's semi-finals. Guedj will represent Israel with "Golden Boy" in the competition against 25 other countries.
The semi-finals left Israeli viewers in suspense until the very end, when Israel was declared the last out of 10 countries continuing on to the finals. The order in which countries are declared is random, and not based on points.
Nadav Guedj performs at the Eurovision semi-final round
"We are incredibly excited," said Guedj shortly after the announcement. "This is a truly great achievement for the delegation. Everyone worked very hard, with evident results."
The 10 successful semi-finalists will join 10 other performers who have already qualified for the finals.
The energetic performance won the crowd over (Photo: EPA)
At the finals, Guedj will meet the other performers who qualified, as well as those from countries automatically entering the finals – the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, host nation Austria, and special wild card Australia.
Guedj said in an interview that he was very excited to represent Israel at the age of 16 and was aware of the responsibility on his shoulders. "I care less about being thee than to represent Israel honorably," said the French-born singer, who won the second season of "Risin Star," a reality singing competition.
Israel has been excluded from the Eurovision finals for five years. The most recent Israeli finalist was Harel Skaat, who placed 14th in 2010.
