Prince William’s royal visit to Israel has been pretty standard: He visited the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, played soccer in Jaffa, and went to the beach in Tel Aviv beach.
Being the helpful people that we are, we had some suggestions for what Prince William should do when he’s in Tel Aviv. But he surprised us all by meeting none other than newly-minted Israeli pop superstar Netta Barzilai!
Barzilai — whose catchy, empowering song won the Eurovision contest this year — has become one of Israel’s biggest stars. Wearing a bright pink outfit and purple braids, she strolled alongside Prince William on Tel Aviv’s famous Rothschild Boulevard. They chatted (about what? Read on!) over a drink of Gazoz, a popular Israeli soda, that tastes like a cherry sparkling water.
Kensington Palace hashtagged the phrase “Kapara Eleichem”, which is an informal version of “blessings upon you” (it is hard to translate Israeli slang!), which has become Barzilai’s catchphrase.
In a video of the pair walking down a crowd-thronged sidewalk, this delightful exchange occurs: “You want me to be a singer? Ah, very funny,” Prince William asks Barzilai. When she says,”yes,” he laughs and says, “You haven’t heard me sing, you wouldn’t want that!” This is after Barzilai gifted Prince William a “looping machine,” which she famously uses in her music.
But Barzilai wasn’t the only pop star on the royal list: The Prince also met former Eurovision contestant, Shiri Maimon, who is now a judge on X Factor Israel.
After the visit, Barzilai said, “We talked about the way I changed how people feel here in Israel, and about self-esteem… and how positivity and setting a good example for people is really making a difference.” She also called Prince William “a really, really chill guy.”
Also, Reuters confused Netta with Palestinian president. Too funny!
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1011966434195529729
Header Image via Netta Barzilai on Instagram
