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For her song “Unicorn,” Noa Kirel “chose a character that is…very strong and stands with its horn outward to anyone coming—and I see our country as such a strong country.”
By United with Israel Staff
Israeli singer Noa Kirel will represent Israel in the 2023 Eurovision contest with a song entitled “Unicorn,” which expresses the Jewish state’s unique status in the world.
“We chose a character that is…very strong and stands with its horn outward to anyone coming—and I see our country as such a strong country,” said the 21-year-old Ra’anana native in comments published by Times of Israel.
“There’s something so innocent and pure about a unicorn, that in this period, we had to choose something that exists only in fairytales, in fantasies. I feel that in the recent period in Israel and in the world — particularly since the end of COVID — the world is moving at speed and everything is fast and you have to deal with changes really quickly,” Kirel added during the song’s unveiling in Eilat.
Kirel is one of Israel’s most famous singers on the international stage and used her platform last year to take a stand against Kanye West’s Jew-hatred.
At the MTV Europe Awards show November, Kirel donned pants with images of West wearing the Star of David, a key symbol for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Kirel, who took home the award for best Israeli artist for the fifth year in a row at the awards show, wore the pants to protest West’s string of antisemitic rants, in addition to his claim that he is one of the “real” Jews, which parrots the hate-filled anti-Jewish fantasies of the Black Hebrew Israelite sect.
That sect made the news when NBA star Kyrie Irving promoted a film spreading its conspiracies, a film that included Holocaust denial and the false claim that the Jewish community is currently made up of imposters and not “real” Jews.
Kirel wore the pants a day after one of the world’s top comedians, Dave Chappelle, delivered a monologue on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” that mocked statements condemning antisemitism, amplified stereotypes about Jews, and legitimized people like West and Irving.
Chappelle has faced accusations of antisemitism in the past when he appeared to accuse current-day Israelis of treating the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews during the Holocaust, a common, false antisemitic trope used by anti-Israel activists.
According to Kirel’s stylist, Itai Bezaleli, the singer wore the pants because she wanted to address “something topical that will be talked about.”
Kirel rose to fame as a teenager in Israel before serving in the IDF and scoring several hits. This year, she will represent Israel in the Eurovision song contest.
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