Deborah Danan | JTA
A frontrunner on the latest season of “Rising Star,” the Israeli talent show, has advanced on the basis of her renditions of an iconic Israeli song that includes words from the Shema, one of Judaism’s central prayers, and “Hurricane,” the country’s post-Oct. 7 anthem that she performed alongside a survivor of the Hamas massacre that day.
Those might be unsurprising selections in a Jewish country that has lately been defined by its response to Oct. 7. But it’s not just her voice that sets Valerie Hamaty apart: She’s also an Arab Christian, the only such contestant on a show whose winner becomes Israel’s entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest. And her success is sparking debate at a time when Israel’s war in Gaza has tested relations between Jewish and Arab Israelis.
“That an Arab should represent Israel on an international stage is a huge source of pride,” said Zohurha Abonar. “And the fact that she’s from right here? That makes it even more special.”
Abonar is a Muslim resident of Jaffa, the city adjacent to Tel Aviv that is a heart of Arab Israel and Hamaty’s hometown. She was speaking at a Christmas market where Hamaty’s recent advance added to the seasonal cheer.
One 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 hasn’t been welcomed by everyone.
“She’s always pandering to Jews,” said one young woman from a group standing nearby, 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 and what she viewed as the singer’s public alignment with Israeli Jews during the ongoing war. 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.
On various Arabic forums, discussions about Hamaty reflect this divide. Some praise her 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. While some welcome her Eurovision candidacy and her decision to perform well-known Hebrew and English songs in Arabic — which Hamaty translates herself — as a reflection of Israel’s diversity, others see her performances during a time of war as tone-deaf and 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 closely but has managed to stay level-headed. “I go into every article written about my daughter and if there are a thousand talkbacks [comments], I’ll read every single one. I like to understand what people think,” he said.
“The comments sections are tainted by a few very loud racists who answer everyone,” he added. “But the sane majority has shown nothing but love for Valerie.”
Tony Hamaty was speaking from his eponymous pizzeria in Jaffa’s old city, where a TV on the wall played a loop of his daughter’s performances.
One of the most emotionally arresting was a duet performed with another contestant, Daniel Wais. Wais’s father, 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.
During the show, Wais shared that he and Hamaty had competed against each other in a talent competition before the war. His father, who attended that event, had told him afterward that he needed to find a way to perform with her someday. Reflecting on the duet, Wais said, “When I realized we’d be singing together on ‘Rising Star,’ I got goosebumps.”
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. Golan performed it in the final, hosted in the Swedish city of Malmo, amid loud jeers and boos from audience members opposing Israel’s war in Gaza, as well as cheers. Golan ultimately placed second in the audience vote and fifth overall.
In their rendition, Hamaty and Wais incorporated lyrics from the original version, titled “October Rain.”
Tony Hamaty shared that his daughter had received overwhelming support from survivors and family members of victims of the Oct. 7 attack, saying they had urged her to “stay strong and not let the racist voices get to her.”
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Valerie recounted a moving 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.”
