Hurricane

Article by Asher Intrater

The week of May 7 is the Eurovision Song Contest. For most people in the Americas or Asia, this contest is not that well known. However, in Europe, and in Israel, it is the largest entertainment and arts event of the year.

It is being held this year in Malmo, a port city in southern Sweden, that because of its location has received large numbers of Muslim refugees from the Middle East and has become a hotbed of Jihadist protests.

This is a potentially dangerous situation for the Israeli contestant, Eden Golan. The first song we submitted was rejected by the Eurovision committee as being too related to the war in Gaza, and thus too political.

A new song was written, called "Hurricane," and was accepted. It also relates to the war but more from people's sense of emotional turmoil; thus, the title, "Hurricane."

We are attaching here the music video with AI enhanced graphics. The graphics have deep psychological associations for Israelis, that might not be obvious to others. Here are a few examples, noted according to the minute/seconds on the video:

0:30 - Boys don't cry; the scene switches to IDF soldiers, who are fighting with wives and babies at home; feeling their heartbreak.

1:10 – Promise me you'll hold me again, says a young widow to her husband in the grave.

2:10 – IDF officers coming to the home of a pregnant mother to report that her husband has been killed in the war. Her son is watching TV about the war and has a carpet with child's picture of army vehicles. The woman in response cradles her tummy with the baby in her womb as she hears the news.

2:40 – Shows secular, mostly left wing, nice-looking, Israeli youths, wearing blue and white reflecting the colors of the flag, calling for a deal to return the hostages.

2:47 – Scene shifts to ultra-religious, mostly right wing, assembly at the Western Wall for the traditional Aaronic blessing during Passover week. Words switch to Hebrew - if a deal won't work, maybe a prayer will.

2:50 – Shows a hostage bound and held underground, with closing words, just leave me a flickering candle, a little light of hope.

The theme of the song is a person dancing in a hurricane, helpless yet filled with hope. Everything that is happening was meant to be, even if we don't understand it. We are exposed, nothing to hide, nowhere to go.

There is a storm, a turmoil of emotions, swirling around us … like a … hurricane.