Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland are the top 10 finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, the first semi-final of which took place last night in Vienna. To these countries we must add Sal Da Vinci for Italy and Sarah Engels for Germany who performed yesterday and who, being part of the so-called Big 4, directly advanced to Saturday's final without being subjected to the judgment of the public and national juries.
Following the preferences of the juries and televoting, Portugal, Georgia, Montenegro, Estonia and San Marino, which was represented by Senhit and Boy George with Superstar, were eliminated.
Sal Da Vinci's performance:
Senhit and Boy George:
Among the most anticipated performances for reasons unrelated to music and entertainment was that of Noam Bettan who was both acclaimed (in the video below you can hear the “Noam! Noam!”) and greeted by whistles, “boos” and shouts of “Stop, stop the genocide!”, the latter clearly audible also in the official audio.
Protests have also been reported outside the arena where security measures have been strengthened. In Schwedenplatz, in the center of Vienna, a group of protesters placed coffins with photos of children killed in Gaza by the Israelis.
After the controversy over the calls (which were cancelled) on Israeli TV to assign all 10 votes (the maximum per person from home) to Bettan, yesterday the host invited the public to vote for more than one singer to “spread love”.
During the Rai live broadcast, Bettan's song was commented on only by Elettra Lamborghini, who spoke about the piece, while Gabriele Corsi remained silent. The only thing he said was “Noam Bettan for Israel” at the beginning of the performance.
Even on the Rai live broadcast, police officers were seen walking around the hall during Bettan's performance. There are videos on social media of people forcibly taking away protesters during Israel's performance, in particular a person without a shirt with “Free Palestine” written on his back.
A pro-Palestine protestor was forcefully removed from the #Eurovision arena tonight after Israel performed. His chants were heard before and during the performance. pic.twitter.com/tCdoU873yE
— sᴜᴘᴇʀ ᴛᴠ (@superTV247) May 12, 2026
🇮🇱A protester against Israel was arrested inside the arena during Israel performance pic.twitter.com/m8f7bCvdGT
— Eurovision News (@EurovisionNewZ) May 12, 2026
The second semi-final will be held tomorrow evening from 9pm live on Rai 2, RaiPlay and Rai Radio 2. Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Armenia, Switzerland, Cyprus, Latvia, Denmark, Australia, Ukraine, Albania, Malta, Norway will perform in order of release. It will not be possible to vote from Italy. Five will be eliminated, 10 will progress to Saturday night's final plus two members of the Big 4 (France and UK) and Austria who are hosting the competition this year.
