By Deborah Danan
An Arab Israeli has advanced toward Eurovision on the basis of her rendition of an Israeli song that includes words from the Shema, and of “Hurricane,” a post-Oct. 7 anthem that she performed alongside a survivor of the Hamas massacre that day.
It’s not just her voice that sets Valerie Hamaty apart: She is also an Arab Christian. Her success is sparking debate.
A teenage girl, who said she was Hamaty’s cousin but asked not to be named, said the singer’s growing success resonated deeply within her Christian community. “She’s inspiring so many of us,” she said.
But Hamaty’s rise has not been welcomed by everyone.
“She’s always pandering to Jews,” said another young woman, who declined to give her name.
“My generation in the Muslim community will never stand behind her,” she added, pointing to Hamaty’s decision to wear a yellow pin in support of the hostages,
Hamaty has made regular visits to hospitals to cheer soldiers wounded in Gaza, sung at the funerals of victims of the Oct. 7 attack and toured battered kibbutzim and communities.
Some praise Hamaty for breaking cultural barriers and serving as a role model for young Arab artists. Others express discomfort with her association with Israeli national events.
Among Jewish Israelis, opinions are similarly divided. Some welcome Hamaty’s decision to perform well-known Hebrew and English songs in Arabic — which Hamaty translates herself — as a reflection of Israel’s diversity.
Others believe that the privilege of representing Israel on the global stage should be reserved for a Jewish artist.
“How can we send a non-Jewish singer to represent us?” one commenter wrote in response to a video of Hamaty’s most recent performance. “After all, Israel is the state of one nation; the symbol of the Star of David is on the flag. This is a fact, not an opinion.”
The comment drew a handful of responses accusing the author of racism — but also more than 80 thumbs-up emojis.
Hamaty’s father, Tony, says he follows every online exchange about his daughter. “The sane majority has shown nothing but love for Valerie,” he says.
One of her most emotionally arresting performances was a duet performed with Daniel Wais, whosefather, Shmulik, was killed on Oct. 7 in their home in Kibbutz Be’eri as he tried to defend his wife, who was kidnapped, brought to Gaza and later murdered. Her body was eventually recovered by the IDF.
Just before filming the episode, Wais had come from his parents’ reburial, moved from temporary graves to the kibbutz cemetery now considered safe enough for a proper funeral.
The two sang “Hurricane,” the song performed by Eden Golan, who represented Israel in last year’s Eurovision. The song, which referenced those murdered on Oct. 7, had its lyrics and title altered after Eurovision organizers deemed it too political. Hamaty and Wais incorporated lyrics from the original version, titled “October Rain.”
Tony Hamaty says that his daughter has received overwhelming support from survivors and family members of victims of the Oct. 7 attack.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Hamaty recounted an encounter with Shani Goren, who was taken hostage to Gaza and released in a deal with Hamas in November, 2023. Goren reached out to the singer, expressing her desire to hear Hamaty sing in Arabic, explaining that she wanted to reconnect with the beauty of the language despite the trauma she endured.
“I don’t want to associate it only with what I went through there,” she said Goren told her. “You’re the only one who can help me see it differently.”
For Hamaty, the moment was transformative. “If this is my mission, and these are the people who have given me their blessing, I have nothing left to prove. Music constantly amazes me — if Arabic triggers fear in some, singing transforms it, reaching their hearts in a different way,” she told the outlet.
Nevertheless, Hamaty said she has no plans to sing in Arabic if she gets the chance to represent Israel at Eurovision. Instead, she plans to sing a ballad in English with some Hebrew — a standard mix at the multinational contest that has recently been dominated by English-language lyrics.
“The goal is to connect with Europeans, so English is necessary for them to understand, and Hebrew represents Israel, the official language here. The fact that I’m Arab is already part of the story. There’s no need to overstate it.”
Hamaty’s father acknowledged that the war has made hearing Arabic difficult for some Israeli Jews:
“There are those who say, ‘With all due respect, we love her and everything, but it’s hard for us to hear the Arabic language right now.’ I can understand that sentiment on an emotional level — I’m not angry with them. In some ways, I even get where they’re coming from. But I don’t agree with them.”
Valerie Hamaty, a ninth-generation native of Jaffa and polyglot who speaks five languages, began her education at a French Christian school in Jaffa before transferring to a public school in Tel Aviv. There, her music teacher formed a band after hearing her sing, and she was chosen to perform at Memorial Day ceremonies, a notable decision in a country where the solemn day symbolizes the sacrifices of Israel’s almost entirely Jewish army.
One performance left such an impression that her head teacher noted it was the first time all 1,000 students stayed through the ceremony, captivated by her voice.
She participated in the March of the Living trip to Auschwitz and sang at the Knesset at age 16.
After high school, she studied study music at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Since 2021, she has released several singles and nabbed roles in Israeli TV shows.
Through it all, she has collaborated with prominent Israeli artists, including Noa Kirel, who represented Israel in Eurovision 2023.
She performed in 2022 at the country’s torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl to mark the transition between Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day — a day that only a minority of Israeli Arabs celebrate as a holiday.
If she ends up representing Israel at Eurovision in Basel, Switzerland, in May, it won’t be the first time the country has used the competition as an opportunity to showcase its multiculturalism.
When Israel hosted the contest in 2019, after winning the previous year, the country’s public broadcaster released a promo video with a self-deprecating ditty sung by an Arab-Israeli personality, Lucy Ayoub, along with Russian-Israeli presenter Elia Greenfeld. “In fact most Israelis have complex identities/that is why we all look at each other here as frenemies,” they sang.
Tony Hamaty was candid about the resistance his daughter has faced from some in the Muslim community. “I have many Muslim friends who raise an eyebrow and ask, ‘Why does your daughter support Israel?’”
In response, he pointed to the indiscriminate brutality of Hamas.
“They killed over 30 Arabs, including women in hijabs, showing that they don’t care about religion or nationality. Their ideology is purely about killing every Israeli citizen,” he said.
For him, the choice is clear: “We have to stand with the state — we are Israelis.”
“If my daughter wins, she’ll show that racism doesn’t have the final word.”
