Israeli-Moroccan Singer Noa Kirel Advances to Eurovision 2023 Final with "Unicorn"

At the end of her performance during the first semi-final, Nora Kirel said she had done "the maximum to represent the country (Israel) with pride." "There’s no excitement like this! I felt like each of you was with me. I promise to do everything - and I mean everything - to continue to make the people of Israel happy in the grand final" scheduled for Saturday, added the interpreter of the song "Unicorn" in a statement from the Israeli public channel Kan after the announcement of the results.

According to the forecasts, the singer will finish seventh in the competition, which would represent Israel’s best performance after Netta Barzilaï, winner of the Eurovision 2018 with her song "Toy." Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway are the other finalists after this first semi-final. They will face on Saturday the candidates from the second semi-final scheduled for this Thursday, Ukraine, winner of last year, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. The Swedish of Moroccan origin, Loreen, with her song "Tattoo," is considered the big favorite of the competition this year.

Kirel is one of Israel’s most popular current singers. She was chosen to represent the country at Eurovision 2023 by an internal commission set up by the public channel Kan. A first, the last eight candidates having been selected as part of reality TV shows. Israel has already won the Eurovision four times since its first participation in 1973, notably in 1978 with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Yizhar Cohen, in 1979 with "Hallelujah" by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey, in