Asked by reporters how she feels after qualifying for the Eurovision final with her song “Set Me Free,” Israeli contestant Eden Alene gets emotional.
“I feel like I’m going to explode because of the excitement,” she says holding back tears.
“I’m so happy for my country because we deserve this. We’ve been through so much,” she says, in an apparent reference to the ongoing conflict with Gaza terror groups.
“I love my country, and I’ve been through so much. And I’m so happy!”
Israeli singer Eden Alene’s emotional reaction after qualifying for the #Eurovision final with her song “Set Me Free.
Video: @klaiman14 pic.twitter.com/TACfmGSgfn
— Plus61J Media (@Plus61J) May 19, 2021
Header: Alene during her military service in the Israel Defense Forces in 2020
Notes:
Alene was born in the neighborhood of Katamon in Jerusalem, to Ethiopian-Jewish parents who immigrated separately to Israel during the aliyah from Ethiopia.
Alene attended religious Jewish elementary school and middle school, although she then attended the secular Jewish high school of the Hebrew University Secondary School and majored in theatre.
She was enlisted in October 2018 as a soldier in to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and served in the military band of the Education and Youth Corps. She received an honorable discharge in October 2020.