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Israeli Singer Eden Golan to Perform at UN ‘October Rain’ Song About Hamas Attack Rejected by Eurovision
Eden Golan performing “Hurricane” for Israel at the second semi-final for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest at Malmo Arena on May 9, 2024. Photo: Corinne Cumming/EBU
Eden Golan, Israel’s representative in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, will perform her original song “October Rain” at the United Nations to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
Golan will perform the track at a ceremony on Oct. 7 that will be hosted by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, according to ILTV News. Families of hostages currently being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are expected to attend the event along with Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and diplomats from other countries, the news outlet reported.
The lyrics of “October Rain” reference the Oct. 7 massacre, and in the chorus, Golan sings: “Dancing in the storm/We got nothing to hide/Take me home/And leave the world behind/And I promise you that never again/I’m still wet from this October rain.”
Golan had originally planned to perform “October Rain” at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden, but the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, rejected the song, deeming it too political. Golan instead competed in the Eurovision with a reworded version of the song that was retitled “Hurricane.”
Golan finished in fifth place in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. She made it to the top five after being booed on stage by anti-Israel protesters, experiencing death threats, and having one of the competition’s jury members refuse to give her points because of his personal opposition to Israel. Golan later revealed that she was forced to wear a disguise outside her hotel during the song competition in Malmo, Sweden, because of the threats she faced by those who opposed Israel’s involvement in the contest.
Shortly after the conclusion of the competition, Golan performed “October Rain” at a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The post Israeli Singer Eden Golan to Perform at UN ‘October Rain’ Song About Hamas Attack Rejected by Eurovision first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East
A Patriot missile battery. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – American Patriot missile defense batteries will be moved from South Korea to the Middle East, according to reports in Asian media on Friday, amid speculation over a potential military action against Iran’s nuclear program and escalating bombardments of Iran-backed jihadists in Yemen.
US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, and the United States has moved additional warplanes into the region.
Washington and Seoul have reportedly recently agreed on the “monthslong” partial deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, in what is understood to be the first known case involving the relocation of United States Forces Korea (USFK) assets to the Middle East.
Iran in recent years has largely dropped the pretense of enriching uranium for a civilian atomic energy program, as it’s reportedly teetering on the nuclear precipice. Israel believes that a nuclear Iran represents a grave existential threat, consistent with the exterminationist antisemitism of the Islamic Republic’s anti-Israel rhetoric.
After the election of Trump, a known Iran hawk, the likelihood of an U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has increased precipitously.
The post US Moves Patriot Missile Batteries from South Korea to Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled
The Azerbaijani capital of Baku. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Iran enlisted the services of a Georgian drug trafficker to carry out an assassination of a prominent Azerbaijani rabbi, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing security officials.
The plot to murder Rabbi Shneor Segal, foiled by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in early January, also involved a plan to attack a Jewish education center, the officials said.
The plot was set in motion by an officer with Iran’s Quds Force, who met with Georgian criminal Agil Aslanov, handing him a photo of Segal and detailed instructions on how to murder him, the officials cited by WaPo said. Aslanov’s fee for the foiled hit was $200,000.
The State Security Service said the two men “worked to collect information about a member of a religious community, and sent the location of his residence and workplace to a representative of a foreign special service agency via the appropriate mobile phone application.”
Iran is known to be behind multiple plots against Israeli and Jewish targets, many of which have been foiled by Israeli and foreign security services.
However a recent plot saw three citizens of Uzbekistan murder an Israeli rabbi in the United Arab Emirates on Iranian orders. The three were sentenced to death earlier this week for the murder of Zvi Kogan in November.
The post Report: Iranian Plot to Assassinate Azerbaijani Rabbi Foiled first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu to Depart for Washington on Sunday Directly from Hungary to Meet with Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart to Washington DC on Sunday directly from Hungary—where he is presently on an official visit—to meet with US President Donald Trump, i24NEWS learned on Saturday from an Israeli source.
The visit comes following a phone conversation between the leaders on Friday, and a call with State Secretary Marco Rubio a short while ago.
As a result, the planned visit to Washington of Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz will be postponed once again.
Topics of discussion between the two leaders are expected to include the possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Gaza war and the future of the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, the US bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi jihadists in Yemen, and the recent imposition of tariffs on Israeli products.
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