Bambi Thug (Ireland), Nemo (Switzerland) and Marina Satti (Greece) were absent from the final rehearsal, according to reliable Eurovision nerd byJannik:
https://mastodon.social/@byJannik/112422609958078857
RTÉ reports that Bambie has called on the EBU to address Kan’s commentary during their performance.
“Contending that the commentary breached the rules […] Bambie Thug said Israel should no longer be allowed to participate in the competition.”
On Tuesday, a commentator on Kan, the Israeli public service broadcaster, warned TV viewers with children that Bambie Thug’s performance of their song, Doomsday Blue, would be “the most scary” of the night.
He also noted that Bambie Thug liked to “speak negatively about Israel”. “But we can talk about that later. Prepare your curses,” he said.
A spokesperson [for the irish broadcaster] said, however, that RTÉ had not called on Israel to be removed from the competition. In a statement, the EBU said: “We’ve spoken to KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, about this matter and reiterated the importance of all commentators respecting all the artists taking part in the competition and abiding by the rules and regulations of the event.”
IIRC in 2003 t.A.T.u. was threatened that the live coverage would be replaced with a recording of the rehearsal if they changed up anything during their performance and kissed on stage (gasp the horror). I would assume they’re ready to do something similar today just to stop anyone speaking up in favor of Palestine, in favor of Joost or critical towards Israel from being broadcast.