Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Eurovision mega-fan Tal Dahan, straight from Basel.

Dahan is a volunteer reporter with the Hebrew-language EuroMix website, which has been the number one source for Israelis about the Eurovision for decades.

This year marks Israel's 47th time participating in the Eurovision, a song contest that was established 69 years ago to unite Europe through music.

We are recording just after the first semi-final and ahead of Israel's participation in the second semi-final on Thursday night. It is expected that Israel's candidate, Yuval Raphael, will make it to the finals on Saturday night with her song, "New Day Will Rise."

Dahan talks about the betting favorites going into Saturday's final and also discusses the politics of the competition.

And so this week, we ask Tal Dahan, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.