🇮🇱 🇲🇹 National final season started already

France has already decided for a song and Czechia is about to do so. But two more countries have started their national selections. An update:

Israel

It is not a big surprise, the Israel-Hamas war influenced their national selection. The show was postponed, in the first show segments of the Israeli Defence Force were shown and the second show was postponed again due to a press conference about the hostages. However, two shows of HaKokhav Haba were shown so far. HaKokhav Haba (Rising Star) is the national final, as it was between 2015-2020. Every auditioning artist has to get 70% of the votes in order to get through to the next round.

22 November

• Shay Tamino, 85%
• Lian Biran, 97%
• Eliya Sharabi, 56%
• Eden Golan, 100%

2 December:

• Moriya Angel, 96%
• Jonathan Bitton, 86%
• Malka, 45%
• Arik Sinai, 90%

• Arik Sinai participated before. He earned a 4th place….. back in 1985!! 

Malta

Malta has had four semifinals in October and November:

27 October

1. Kurt Calleja, “Misunderstood”
2. Sarah Bonnici, “Loop”
3. Gail Attard, “Wild card”
4. Mark Anthony Bartolo, “Condition or Fiction”
5. Eliana Gomez Blanco, “There’s Only Flowers”
6. Oxygyn, “Cloudmaker”
7. Nathan, “Ghost”
8. Lyndsay Pace, “Fire proof”
9. Dominic Cini, “Bewsa”

Kurt Calleja became 3rd in 2011, won in 2012 and represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest with “This is the night”.
Sarah Bonnici took part in X-Factor Malta 2019 and became 12th in 2022.
Gail Attard also took part in X-Factor Malta 2019.
Mark Anthony Bartolo also took part in X-Factor Malta 2019, became 11th in 2022 and reached the semifinal in 2023.
Eliana Gomez Blanco was 9th in 2023.
Nathan was 11th in 2022.
Lyndsay Pace took part in the 2015 semifinal and, of course, in X-Factor Malta 2019.
Dominic Cini was involved in the 2009 semifinal.

3 November

1. Marie-Claire, “Fading”
2. Franklin Calleja, “Puppet”
3. Desirei Grech, “Watch Me”
4. Sopranique, “Empire”
5. Janvil, “Man”
6. Haley Azzopardi, “Tell Me That It’s Over”
7. Denise Mercieca, “Mara”
8. Mark Portelli, “Just be”
9. Maria Christina, “Moving On”

Marie-Claire took part in the 2023 semifinal.
Franklin Calleja took part in 2013 (semifinal), 2014 (7th) and X-Factor Malta 2019 (10th).
Janvil or J. Anvil took part in 2005 (3rd), 2006 (4th), 2009 (10th), 2010 (semifinal), 2011 (10th) and 2012 (14th).
Denise Mercieca was involved in the auditions of X-Factor Malta 2019 and in 2022 (5th). Also Mark Portelli and Maria Christina took part in the auditions of X-Factor Malta 2019.

10 november

1. Jessica Micallef, “Tagħna Tnejn”
2. Cosette Baldacchino, “Free fall”
3. Michela Galea, “Let’s talk about love”
4. Thea Aqulina, “Blood stream”
5. Miguel Bonello, “Better off alone”
6. Moira Stafrace, “Feather flight”
7. Dan, “Baraxx”
8. Stefan Galea, “Numb”
9. Karin Duff, “Breaking bad”

Jessica Micallef auditioned for X-Factor Malta 2020. Michela Galea did the same in 2019. Miguel Bonello did an attempt in both years.
Moira Stafrace took part in 1992 (2nd), 1993 (final), 1994 (winner in duet with Christopher Scicluna). Chris and Moira represented Malta in 1994 with “More than love) .
Dan auditioned for X-Factor Malta 2020 and took part in 2023 (12th).
Stefan Galea was involved in 2016 (semifinal), X-Factor Malta 2019 (auditions) and in 2023 (16th).

17 November

1. Erba’, “Sirena”
2. Miriana Conte, “Venom”
3. Christian Arding, “Bellus”
4. Lisa Gauci, “Breath”
5. Matt Blxck, “Banana”
6. Martina Cutajar, “Miles away”
7. Greta Tude, “Topic (bla bla)”
8. Ryan Hill, “Karma”
9. Kyle George, “Arrows”

Miriana Conte took part in 2017 (16th), 2018 (12th), in the X-Factor Malta 2019 and 2020, 2022 (6th), 
Already in 2006, Christian Arding took part (5th), and in 2009 (semifinal) and 2023 (10th).
Matt Blxck took part in X-Factor Malta 2019 (auditions),  2020 (auditions), 2022 (7th) and 2023 (4th).
Greta Tude reached the semifinal in 2023.

The names in bold letters go through to the final in January.