MQ Kantine, a modern café in Vienna known for drawing visitors to the city’s arts museums quarter, has taken on an unusual role during the Eurovision Song Contest: it has put Israeli flavors on its menu and displayed small Israeli flags overhead as the event becomes a focal point for wider political anger.
The effort began after officials released a list of “Eurofan Cafes” that would offer food and music from competing countries, and Israel was initially left out. The café stepped forward, adding items such as falafel, bagels with lox and kosher wine, according to the AP report, and placed a police officer outside the door. While supporters gathered for coffee, beer and Eurovision-themed conversation, those security signals underscored how far the contest’s “United by Music” slogan could feel from the real-world disputes surrounding Israel’s participation.
Daniel Kapp, described by AP as a PR consultant and pro-Israel campaigner, said the mood at the café had remained broadly friendly. He said it was “beautiful” to see people drinking and eating on the terrace, but he also pointed to the presence of the officer outside as evidence that the situation was “not entirely normal.” Kapp said Austria has, to a degree, learned from its history of deadly antisemitism under the Nazis before and during World War II, and he linked that history to what he described as a more “normal” form of support for Israel than he has seen elsewhere.
Outside cafés, security preparations in Vienna are shaped by the heightened risk environment around large public events during the contest, and by the political fault lines over Israel’s role. AP reported that five countries are boycotting Eurovision because Israel is participating, and that pro-Palestinian activists are planning a protest concert—among several Eurovision alternatives across Europe—along with an anti-Israel march before Saturday’s grand final. The same AP report said volunteers at MQ Kantine take turns monitoring for potential trouble.
The political backdrop extends beyond Eurovision itself. AP said Israel has competed for more than 50 years and won four times, and that Israel’s participation has been contested since it launched a war in Gaza after a Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. AP added that more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, citing the territory’s Health Ministry records, which AP said are viewed as generally reliable by the international community. It also said Israel’s government has defended its offensive as a response to the Oct. 7 attack, while some experts—including those commissioned by a United Nations body—have said Israel’s offensive amounts to genocide; Israel has denied that claim.
Vienna’s security posture is also shaped by prior terror-plot concerns, AP reported, including the case of a 21-year-old Austrian man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, who pleaded guilty to plotting an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024. The Eurovision event itself is being staged with checks and restrictions: AP said getting into the Wiener Stadthalle arena involves passing security scanners, and that armed police are visible on the streets around the contest.
Even with those frictions, AP reported that some Israeli fans said the tight security helped them feel reassured. Oz Yona, who AP said was attending his first Eurovision, said he had experienced “no hate” and felt Austria was taking antisemitism seriously. Yona described himself as coming with friends to cheer for Israel and said he was not optimistic about Israeli singer Noam Bettan’s chances, framing his assessment as about music rather than politics.
On the stage, Bettan secured a spot in Saturday’s final after AP reported that he finished among the top 10 in voting by viewers and national juries during the first semifinal on Tuesday. AP also said organizers removed four people from the 10,000-strong audience for disruptive behavior. Austrian Eurovision fan Ivo Herzl told AP he found the overall atmosphere “incredibly positive” at the semifinal and said he was showing support for Israel by making and selling Mazel Lov T-shirts, a play on “mazel tov.”
Other fans described Eurovision as dividing and uniting at the same time. AP reported that Birgitta Peterson and Kristina Nilsson, who call themselves “The Swedish Ladies,” wear matching pink bomber jackets and meet each year with their “Eurovision family.” They said they plan to wave Israeli flags at Saturday’s final after Swedish contestant Felicia said earlier this year that she did not think Israel should be in the contest, and they said tensions over Israel have divided a community known for friendliness and embrace of diversity.
AP quoted Nilsson saying “The wounds are very deep at the moment,” while Peterson said the event should still be “about ‘united by music’ and happiness,” reflecting what some fans have described as an attempt to keep the contest’s cultural tone alive despite the surrounding political storm.