The Eurovision Song Contest of 2023 began Saturday night in Liverpool, England, and Israel’s representative Noa Kirel took the stage at midnight as contestant number 23, three songs before the end.
Following her performance of her song, “Unicorn,” Kirel burst into tears.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, “Noa, the people of Israel are with you.”
Estimates place Finland and Sweden ahead of Israel, which ranks third.

Many artists on Instagram called on their followers to vote for Noa. Among these is Gal Gadot, who urged her 102 million Instagram followers to, “Vote 23 for this amazing unicorn.”
“Go NOA,” she urged in another “story.”
Actor Lior Raz and Eran Zahavi, each of whom has hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, also urged their followers to vote for Kirel.
Earlier on Saturday evening, Kirel received the title of “fan favorite” in a contest on the official Eurovision TikTok page. Netta Barzilai, who won the Eurovision contest in 2018, will also take the stage on Saturday night.