WATCH: Israel’s Eden Alene storms through to Eurovision Song Contest finals

Eden Alene will become the first singer of Ethiopian descent to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest after storming through the competition’s first semi-final in Rotterdam on Tuesday night.

Alene, 21, was originally due to sing at last year’s contest with her entry, Feker Libi, which featured four languages – English, Hebrew, Amharic and Arabic – but never got the chance after the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

This time around, the Eurovision hopeful – who won the Israel version of X Factor in 2018 – will sing pop anthem Set Me Free and compete alongside 25 other nations, including hosts The Netherlands, on Saturday night.

Alene, who was born in Jerusalem, is the daughter of Ethiopian-Jewish immigrants.

After studying ballet for 11 years, she began taking vocal training lessons and decided to pursue a career in music.

Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest four times, most recently in 2018 thanks to Netta Barzilai and her upbeat pop track, Toy.