The Kan public broadcaster said that Israeli President Herzog called for the song to be modified due to its political content.
Israel has reportedly asked songwriters to review proposed entries for the Eurovision Song Contest, potentially avoiding a dispute with organizers over political content.
Israel's public broadcaster Kan said in a statement on Sunday that President Isaac Herzog called for “necessary amendments” to ensure Israel's inclusion in the event, which it has won four times.
Authorities said last week that Israel would not be able to participate in this year's edition of the competition, which will be held in Sweden in May, if organizers rejected the song chosen to represent the country. Eurovision rules prohibit political content.
The song chosen as Israel's entry in the contest – October Rain – refers to the victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel that led to the ongoing war in Gaza.
Israeli Radio “contacted the authors of the two selected songs, 'October Rain', which won first place, and 'Dance Forever,' which came in second place, and asked them to re-adapt the two texts, while preserving their artistic freedom.” The statement said.
“Among the new texts that will be proposed, Cannes will choose the song that will be sent to the Eurovision Supervisory Committee, so that it approves Israel’s participation in the competition.”
The chosen song, which will be performed by 20-year-old Russian-Israeli singer Eden Golan, will be revealed on March 10, the statement said.
One line of the original lyrics of “October Rain” goes: “They were all good kids, every one of them.”
The song ends with, “There is no air left to breathe, there is no longer a place for me,” according to the Kan website, which published the full lyrics of the song on its website.
Israel became the first non-European country to enter Eurovision in 1973, and its participation and hosting of the event has regularly sparked controversy.
In 2019, Icelandic band Hatari, who had previously challenged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a popular Nordic wrestling match, made pro-Palestinian statements during the vote counting in Tel Aviv.
The organizers also directed a nod to American pop icon Madonna after her dancers violated political neutrality rules by wearing the Israeli and Palestinian flags on their costumes.
This year's competition comes against the backdrop of the war sparked by a Hamas attack that killed 1,139 people in Israel.
Hamas fighters also took about 250 prisoners, 130 of whom remain detained in Gaza, although 31 of them are believed dead, according to Israeli officials.
The Israeli military response killed at least 30,410 people in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run enclave.
After organizers banned the song “October Rain” last week for violating political neutrality rules, Kan insisted that he had “no intention of replacing the song” and threatened to withdraw from the competition.
But Herzog “stressed that at a time when those who hate us seek to suppress and boycott the State of Israel” the country must “raise its voice… loudly and clearly in every global forum,” Kan's statement issued on Sunday said.
Last month, the European Broadcasting Union, the organizer of the Eurovision contest, rejected demands to ban Israel from entering the contest because of its bombing of Gaza.
