Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

Eurovision is a big song contest. Many countries send a singer. Each singer sings one song on stage.

This year the show is in Vienna. Vienna is the capital of Austria. The big show is on Saturday, May 16.

Israel's singer is Noam Bettan. He is 22 years old. His song is called 'Michelle.'

Many people think Israel can win. Bettan sang well in the first show on May 12 and went through to the final.

song

music with words you can sing

contest

a game where people try to win

singer

a person who sings songs

stage

a place where singers perform in front of people

Vienna

the capital city of Austria

win

to come first in a contest

final

the last and biggest show in a contest

country

a place like Israel, France or Japan

Level 2 — Elementary

Eurovision is one of the biggest TV shows in the world. Every spring, singers from across Europe — and a few invited countries — perform on the same stage. Last year, Austria won, so this year the contest is in Vienna, the Austrian capital.

The 70th Eurovision finishes on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at the Wiener Stadthalle. Twenty-five countries will sing in the grand final. Ten came from the first semi-final on May 12 and ten from the second on May 14. The 'Big Five' countries — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — go straight to the final because they pay the most.

Israel's singer is Noam Bettan. He is 22 and won 'The Next Star,' a TV talent show. He sings a soft, emotional ballad called 'Michelle.' The song was co-written by Yuval Raphael, the singer who came second for Israel in 2025 and who survived the October 7, 2023 Nova Festival attack.

Before the semi-finals, Greece and Finland were the favourites. After Bettan's performance, Israel jumped to first place in the betting markets. There have also been protests outside the arena — some pro-Palestinian groups want Israel banned — but the European Broadcasting Union has kept the country in the contest.

perform

to sing, act or play on stage in front of an audience

semi-final

a round before the final, in which singers compete to qualify

ballad

a slow, emotional song that usually tells a story

favourite

the contestant most people think will win

betting market

a place where people bet money on who will win a contest

broadcasting union

a group of TV companies from different countries

protest

a public action by people who disagree with something

survivor

a person who lived through a dangerous event

Level 3 — Intermediate

The 70th Eurovision Song Contest reaches its grand final on Saturday, May 16, at the Wiener Stadthalle, the same Vienna arena that hosted Eurovision in 1967 and 2015. Austria, which won the 2025 contest in Basel with countertenor JJ, returns as host nation for a third time, and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has staged the event around a heart-shaped logo and a 'United By Music' tagline now in its fourth year.

Twenty-five acts will perform in the final: Austria as host, the Big Five — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — plus ten qualifiers from each of the two semi-finals on May 12 and May 14. Voting combines a professional jury weighted at 50 per cent and a public televote weighted at 50 per cent, with the public vote announced last in a sequence designed to maximise dramatic tension.

Israel's entry is 'Michelle,' performed by 22-year-old Noam Bettan, winner of HaKokhav HaBa ('The Next Star'). The song was co-written by Yuval Raphael — the Nova-Festival survivor who finished second with 'New Day Will Rise' in 2025 — together with Nadav Aharoni and Tzlil Kalifi. The lyric, delivered in English and Hebrew, is addressed to a girl named Michelle and frames a refusal to be silenced.

Before Bettan's semi-final, Greece and Finland led the bookmaker rankings. After his performance, Israel moved into first place across the major betting markets and has stayed there. The competition has not been without controversy: pro-Palestinian protests have gathered outside the Stadthalle on every show night, and some delegations called for a ban. The EBU rejected those calls but did add a heightened security perimeter and a strengthened anti-bloc-voting protocol in response to claims that organised mass voting boosted Israel's score in 2025.

countertenor

a male singer with a very high vocal range

host nation

the country that runs an international event

tagline

a short slogan used in marketing

qualifier

a person or team that has won the right to compete in the next round

televote

votes cast by the public over the phone or app

bookmaker

a company that takes bets and sets odds on events

perimeter

the outer edge or boundary of an area

bloc voting

when countries vote together for political or regional reasons

Level 4 — Advanced

The 70th Eurovision Song Contest concludes on Saturday, May 16, at Vienna's Wiener Stadthalle, with Israel — represented by the 22-year-old vocalist Noam Bettan — sitting at the top of every major bookmaker's leaderboard. Austria's victory in Basel last year with countertenor JJ secured Vienna as host, the city's third turn after 1967 and 2015, and the EBU's promotional apparatus has built the production around the four-year-old 'United By Music' campaign and a heart-shaped logo coloured each year by the host nation.

Twenty-five delegations will compete in the grand final: Austria as automatic host, the financially privileged 'Big Five' — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — and the ten qualifiers from each of the May 12 and May 14 semi-finals. The voting model, refined after the 2023 'mass televote' controversy, weights the jury and the public 50/50, with juries scoring on May 15 in a 'jury final' dress-rehearsal performance and the public televoting only on Saturday. Crucially, the public tally is announced last, country-by-country, so that the leaderboard can swing dramatically in the final minutes.

Bettan's entry, 'Michelle,' is a bilingual English-Hebrew ballad addressed to a girl too embarrassed to acknowledge her family's roots; the writers describe it as a piece about refusing erasure. The song was composed by Bettan with Nadav Aharoni and Tzlil Kalifi, and crucially co-written by Yuval Raphael, the Nova-Festival survivor whose 'New Day Will Rise' came second on televote in Basel last year before a Spanish jury wipeout left her in second place overall. Raphael's involvement has been amplified across Israeli media and is part of why Bettan — a relative unknown before his Next Star victory in March — sits in the favourites' chair.

Yet the run-up has been politically charged. Pro-Palestinian protests have gathered outside the Stadthalle on every show night, and the national broadcasters of three EBU members had requested either Israel's exclusion or a ban on bloc-voting campaigns. The EBU declined to disqualify Israel but added a heightened security perimeter, an upgraded televote-fraud filter, and a hard cap of twenty votes per payment method in response to the 2025 episode in which Israel's televote score was boosted by an apparently coordinated campaign. Whether 'Michelle' wins or finishes mid-table, the political theatre around the song has already made Eurovision 2026 the most-watched edition of the decade by Tuesday's preview metrics.

delegation

an official group representing a country at an event

automatic host

the previous winner's country, which qualifies for the final without a semi-final

dress rehearsal

a full practice performance done in costume before the real show

tally

a running count of points or votes

bilingual

in two languages

erasure