While relatively few Americans have heard of, let alone paid attention to, the annual Eurovision song contest, for Europeans, as well as many Middle Easterners, it is a major annual event—a sort of international musical Super Bowl. Since Israel’s contestant won the 2018 competition, this year’s, which began yesterday, is taking place in Tel Aviv. Shayna Weiss explains why hosting the event is a matter of national pride to Israelis:

On December 20, a Palestinian waited in a wooded area near a Jewish village in northern Israel in the hope of encountering a victim. Soon enough he spotted Esther Horgan walking home from an evening jog and killed her by beating her with a rock. He later told the police that he did the deed to avenge the death of Kamal Abu Wa’er, a terrorist in Israeli custody. Itamar Marcus explains: