How Israel's Eurovision contestant has faced death threats and fears of a terror attack, but declares: 'I'm not worried - but I am prepared'

With her high cheekbones and aubergine dye streaking her chestnut hair, Eden Golan looked every bit the Euro­vision starlet as she rehearsed her country's entry ahead of this week's song contest.

Holding the hopes of a nation is burden enough for any 20-year-old, but since Eden won her ticket to Malmo – the Swedish host city of this year's competition – she has endured a barrage of death threats. As Israel's entrant, she has become a lightning rod for hate since the invasion of Gaza in response to the Hamas atrocities of Ocober 7.

The country's fearsome national security agency Shin Bet has even warned Eden not to leave her hotel room except for performances because Malmo is anticipating a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the coming days.

No fewer than 20,000 protesters are expected to descend on the city and Swedish police have asked for reinforcements from neighbouring Denmark and Norway.

Officers are usually armed with handguns in Sweden but some will carry larger weapons as a precaution. They also plan to use drone-mounted cameras to monitor the crowds as they bid to keep the peace during the world's biggest pop competition, ending with the final on Saturday.

Most alarming of all, there are reports that terrorists are planning to bomb the arena.

It's an intimidating prospect for the most seasoned performer, let alone a 20-year-old making her first appearance in an international competition. But when I met her at her studio in Tel Aviv before she flew out to Malmo, Eden was remarkably composed. 'I wouldn't say I'm worried. I'm prepared,' she insisted, after some deliberation.

She's thrilled to be performing at Eurovision, the annual smorgasbord of cheesy, kitsch and hilariously camp performances, which is so many people's secret guilty pleasure.

But her entry has been mired in controversy from the start. Denmark, Finland, Norway and even host country Sweden have repeatedly called for Israel to be banned from the contest altogether. And in Belgium, two Ministers demanded that the Jewish state be treated the same as Russia, which has been barred since 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the UK's representative, Olly Alexander, is among nine Eurovision artists who have signed a letter calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

That Eden's song has fallen foul of Eurovision rules stating that all entries must be strictly non-political, hasn't helped to ease the tension.

The original iteration of her piano-backed ballad Hurricane was called October Rain and was a barely disguised tribute to the victims of the Hamas terrorist attack last year. It included lyrics such as 'There's no air left to breathe' and 'They were all good children, each one of them'.

'I was going through a roller-coaster of emotions,' Eden says. 'The song itself has a powerful story.

'When you're going through a lot within yourself and life in general...' She pauses for a moment to compose herself.

While her family was not directly affected by the October 7 massacre, she has many friends who lost loved ones. One friend's boyfriend was murdered at the Nova music festival, an event she finds too painful to discuss. 'We can't disconnect from what's going on in our country,' she continues. 'The entire country is not going through an easy time. I feel like the horror of October 7 brought Jews closer, made us all united.'

But the original October Rain song was rejected by the contest's organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, on political grounds.

At first, the Israeli state-owned TV network Kan, which supplied the song, said it would rather Eden dropped out of the competition than change the lyrics. It was only after an intervention by the country's President Isaac Herzog, who called for the 'necessary adjustments', that it relented.

'It caught me off guard,' Eden says of the controversy. 'I was shocked and confused. But when they said we had to change the lyrics, I said: 'Let's do everything possible to make it happen'.

'I feel like us participating in Eurovision this year is very important, and has much more meaning than any other year.'

After several revisions, October Rain was renamed as Hurricane and now tells the story of a woman emerging from a personal crisis.

Musically, it's the same song but the lyrics are more generic, the references to the massacre replaced with phrases like 'every day, I'm losing my mind' and 'I'm still broken from this hurricane'. The end of the song, which Golan sings in Hebrew, has also been altered. The original pay-off, which had references to poisoned air and dead children have been changed to: 'No need for big words, only prayers. Even if it's hard to see, you always leave me one small light.' Reading between the lines, the song still reflects the mindset of a country that is experiencing a national trauma but Eurovision organisers are not in much of a position to argue.

In 2016, Ukraine's winning entry, 1944, decried Stalin's deportation of the Tatar ethnic minority from Crimea. Moscow complained at the time that the song was too political but Eurovision allowed it nonetheless.

Eden is hoping the positive response to her music will outweigh any negativity. 'People of all nationalities like the song,' she says confidently.

'They can disconnect from what they believe and just focus on the music.'

Both Eden's parents hail from the former Soviet Union and while she was born in Kfar Saba, central Israel, they decided to move to Moscow when she was six.Her father Eddie, 56, is a businessman, while her mother, Olga, 50, is her manager – or 'momager'. She has one brother, Sean, 17, and a 15-year-old Chihuahua called Leo.

While living in Moscow, she was educated at a British international school, where she got A-levels in maths, psychology and business.

She had hoped that an interest in rhythmic gymnastics since the age of three would propel her to the Olympics – but that all changed on a family holiday to Thailand when she was nine years old.

A group of musicians entertaining the guests in the hotel lobby offered her the chance to join them on stage and take the mic. She sang Jingle Bells and, from that moment on, knew she wanted to be a singer.

'My mum was surprised that I wasn't that bad!' she laughs. 'Before that she would say, 'Eden, just sing in the shower!' But I like to prove people wrong and here I am.'

She cites stars such as Beyonce and Rihanna as her inspirations and sang tracks by Whitney Houston's and Aerosmith on the TV show which selected he as Israel's Eurovision performer in February. But she insists: 'Above all I want to be Eden Golan – I want to be myself'.

The first time she stepped on to a serious stage was in 2014, aged just ten, when she took part in a competition for young singers on Russian TV. The following year, she was Russia's representative in the Junior Eurovision song contest, finishing fifth.

But it was in the Russian kids' version of TV reality show The Voice in 2018 that she that she caught the eye of pop moguls who placed her in a pop group called The Cosmos Girls. Eden has mixed feelings about her time living in Russia. While she established her music career in Moscow, she found herself subjected to rampant anti-Semitism. 'I always felt like an outsider there, like I was never really a part of them,' she says.

'Once, I got told to change my Jewish-sounding name: 'You won't get far with that name'. Some of the kids in my school would draw a poop emoji next to the word 'Jews' on the whiteboard.'

Eden's family had always intended to return to Israel one day and Russia's invasion of Ukraine provided the catalyst. Israel is the only place that they've ever really felt at home. 'It's the warmth of the people. It's like the entire country is your family. I missed that feeling,' she says.

Now ensconced in an undisclosed location in Malmo amid tight security for her own protection, she'd be forgiven for missing that feeling even more.

But the singer – who arrived in the city last week sporting a yellow pin, symbolising support for the release of hostages held by Hamas – insists that she is safe.

'I'm getting a lot of love and support from my family and from the professional team that has become like a family.'

And of the mounting security threat outside? 'Protests are of course not pleasant,' she says diplomatically, 'but I can't wait to be there on stage and try to make people feel something in the three minutes that I have. I'm very focused in my mission. '

If her mission is to show that Israel cannot be cowed, it is one she has accomplished already.