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Herzog gave Raphael words of encouragement, telling her that she has will have Israel’s support throughout the competition.
By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner
Singer Yuval Raphael, Israel’s representative in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, met with Israeli President Isaac and First Lady Michal Herzog at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Monday shortly before traveling to Basel, Switzerland, to compete in the international singing competition.
The Ra’anana native – who is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre on Oct. 7, 2023 – will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “New Day Will Rise,” a ballad written by singer and songwriter Keren Peles. The song is mostly in English but features some French and Hebrew lyrics as well.
Raphael will participate in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be broadcast on May 15, and, if she advances, will compete in the grand final on May 18.
She won season 11 of the Israeli television show “HaKokhav HaBa,” (“The Next Star”), whose winner goes on to represent Israel in the Eurovision contest.
Before leaving for Switzerland, Raphael talked to President Herzog about her mindset going into the competition.
“On the one hand, I’m arriving and working as someone who wants to win and is doing everything with that goal, but on the other hand, I can’t help but feel that just being there is already a victory, that I have the privilege to do this,” she said, according to the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO).
“We’re coming to win no matter what,” added the singer, who lived in Geneva for three years as a child. “I don’t have time to breathe — we’re working around the clock to deliver the best result possible. It really feels like preparing for the Olympics.”
Herzog gave Raphael words of encouragement, telling her that she has will have Israel’s support throughout the competition.
“We are all with you,” he said. “You have a wonderful personality, your story is incredible, and every time I hear the song, my heart swells with pride. We want so much for you to succeed.”
“When you step on that stage, remember that you will be in the hearts of every Israeli home, of the entire Jewish people in the Diaspora, and especially in the hearts of the pure and grieving families of the Nova tragedy, of that horrific massacre,” he further noted.
“We are immensely proud of you and wish you the best of luck in this mission.”
The President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog, together with First Lady Michal Herzog, welcome Yuval Rafael. (X Screenshot)
Raphael survived the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, in Re’im, Israel, by hiding from Hamas terrorists in a roadside bomb shelter.
For several hours, she pretended to be dead and laid under dead bodies until she was rescued. Terrorists killed 370 people and kidnapped 44 civilians during their deadly rampage at the music festival.
Last year’s representative in the Eurovision Song Contest, Eden Golan, finished in fifth place in the competition.
She made it to the top five despite being booed on stage by anti-Israel audience members, facing death threats, and having a Eurovision jury member refuse to give her points because of his personal resentment toward Israel’s military actions in the Gaza war.
Golan also said she was forced to conceal her identity outside her hotel room in Malmo, Sweden, where the Eurovision was held last year, because of the threats she received from activists furious about Israel’s participation in the contest.
Israel has been competing in the Eurovision since 1973 and won four times — in 1978 with Izhar Cohen’s “A-Ba-Ni-Bi,” 1979 with Milk and Honey’s “Hallelujah,” 1998 with Dana International’s “Diva,” and in 2018 with Netta Barzilai’s “Toy.”
The Eurovision Song Contest is organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Several national broadcasters have criticized the EBU’s decision to let Israel participate in this year’s competition because of the country’s military actions targeting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Iceland’s national broadcaster most recently called for Israel to be removed from Eurovision 2025, not long after Slovenia’s broadcaster and Spain’s broadcaster RTVE raised their own issues with Israel competing in the contest this year.
A spokesperson for the EBU told HuffPost UK last week that Israel’s national broadcaster Kan submitted an application to join the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest before the September deadline and “the application met all the competition rules.”
“As an independent media organization, our decisions are based on these rules,” the spokesperson added.
“We all aspire to keep the Eurovision Song Contest positive and celebratory and aspire to show the world as it could be, rather than how it necessarily is. The EBU remains aligned with other international organizations that have similarly maintained their inclusive stance towards Israeli participants in major competitions at this time.”
The EBU spokesperson additionally noted that the union acknowledges “the concerns and deeply held views around the current conflict in the Middle East.”
“The EBU is an association of public service broadcasters who are all eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest every year,” the spokesperson further noted.
“We are not immune to global events but, together, it is our role to ensure the contest remains – at its heart – a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music.”
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