Israeli singer Hovi Star (real name Hovav Sekulets) performed a rousing rendition of his song "Made of Stars" at the second Eurovision semifinals on Thursday night and will now advance to the final stage of the competition to be held on Saturday night. "Made of Stars" was written and composed by Doron Medalie and arranged by Chen Metzger Eder. Star was accompanied by two acrobats as he performed "Made of Stars" in a custom-made outfit covered in 150,000 rhinestones against the backdrop a star-filled screen. Star has become a prominent contestant in the competition following a homohobic incident he recently suffered at a Moscow airport. Other countries advancing to the finals are Latvia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Azerbijian and Malta, who will join Hungary, Netherlands, Armenia, Russia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Austria and Croatia, who had advanced to the first semifinals on Tuesday. The countries guaranteed a place in the Eurovision contest include France -- represented by Haddad, a former participant on the Israeli television show Kochav Nolad (A Star Is Born) who is considered a favorite in the competition -- as well as Germany, Italy, Spain, England and Sweden. The latter won last year's competition and is hosting this year's finals in Stockholm. Despite the negative attention from the incident involving Star in Moscow, Russia's Sergey's Lazarev is among the favorites to win this year's contest. Even with the all the excitement in the air, the massive security presence in Stockholm, particularly around the Ericsson Globe Theater where the competition is set to take place, is hard to overlook. Hundreds of police officers have been patrolling the area following a threat by the Islamic State group to attack Sweden during the competition. Those attending the competition have been asked to arrive early, as there will be longer lines to enter the arena due to increased security checks.
Credit: Reuters / Courtesy EBU and SVT
Another Israeli, Amir Haddad, will represent France in the singing competition. Hadad is a dual Israeli-French national.
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שיתוף כתבה
Israel advances to finals of Eurovision song competition
Hovi Star to represent Israel with his song "Made of Stars" at Eurovision in Stockholm • Israeli Amir Haddad to represent France • Massive security presence in Stockholm due to Islamic State threat to attack Sweden during the competition.