President Herzog says Israel should 'be smart, appear in Eurovision'

"It is important that Israel appears in Eurovision, it is important to be smart not only right," President Isaac Herzog was quoted saying by Israeli media on Sunday.

"It's an interesting discourse, I try to help it as much as I can," the president said in a conference in Jerusalem, referring to Israel's participation in the Eurovision. "We talked about Public Diplomacy and I think it's important for Israel to appear in Eurovision, and this is also a statement because there are haters who try to expel us from every stage,” he added.

Referring to Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, he said “I think it's important that the Corporation maintains a dialogue with the European Broadcasting Union."

Herzog further added, "There is a song that represented Israel in 1992 that says it's not just a sport, this is really not just a sport, it's also a matter of political and explanatory significance and that should be taken into account. As I said, not only being right, but also being smart."

Israel's song entry references the October 7 massacre

Herzog’s comments come amid reports last week that the European Broadcasting Union was considering disqualifying the Israeli entry entitled “October Rain” due to “political lyrics.”

The EBU said it was studying the entry's lyrics until reaching its decision. 

The song, expected to be performed by Eden Golan, is agreed upon by many as clearly referring to the October 7 massacre. 

In response, Kan said that it was in dialogue with the EBU, however, it was unwilling to alter the song in any way.