The heads of Israel's Eurovision 2020 delegation is skipping next week's meet and greet ahead of the competition in Rotterdam due to coronavirus concerns.
According to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), which is responsible for all things Eurovision in Israel, the delegation cancelled its flight to Rotterdam in order to comply with the Health Ministry directives against flying abroad expect in the case of an emergency.
Israelis were to pick the country's song for the contest on Tuesday evening during a live TV broadcast by KAN. The international contest will held in the Dutch city in May, as the Netherlands won last year's contest in Tel Aviv.
(Feker Libi)
The broadcast will feature four potential songs for the audience to choose from: "Feker Libi"; "Rakata"; "Roots" and "Savior in the Sound".
(Rakata)
All the songs will be performed by Eden Alene, who won the chance to represent Israel in the contest after winning the “The Star is Born” reality singing competition in February.
(Roots)
Alene, 19, is Israel's first entrant of Ethiopian origin for the Eurovision.
"There was a time I did not like the fact that I was Ethiopian, I wanted to be white,” said Alene following her win last month.
“Think about where we were when the Ethiopians first started making aliyah and look at where we are now. It’s a whole new world.”
There have been rumors that the 2020 competition will be delayed due to concerns over coronavirus, although no official statement has been made to support this.
Even so, Israel's 2018 competition winner Netta Barzilai canceled her performance at the Croatian national competition to find its Eurovision entrant on Saturday due to fears over the virus, Channel 12 reported last week.