Yuval Raphael, Israel’s representative for Eurovision 2025 in Basel, in her first response after winning “HaKohav HaBa for Eurovision”: “Just as I fought for my life, I will fight for you!”
This week, Israel chose its representative for Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. Yuval Rafael, who survived the Nova massacre on October 7th, won the final of “HaKokhav HaBa for Eurovision 2025,” moving an entire nation with her chilling voice and touching story. After winning both the judges’ and public votes, and receiving full support to be sent to Eurovision, Yuval addresses the audience in her first response after winning the show, saying: “I will fight for you.”
Yuval’s Emotional Response
In a touching post on her Instagram account, Yuval shares:
“I can’t comprehend it. You chose me to be the voice of our country, your representative, in front of hundreds of millions of viewers from all over the world. I won’t be able to summarize the journey and experience I had on ‘HaKokhav HaBa’ in just a few words, but I will say – I’m ready. Ready to give it my all. Just as I fought for my place in this competition despite the big gap. Just as I fought for my life, and then for my soul, that’s how I’ll fight for you.”
She continues:
“I’m coming to show the whole world, through music, that we’re here to bring hearts together. That we are a nation of love and simple desire – to live in peace, to dream big and to fulfill. I will do everything to represent our country with the honor it deserves. As long as I have you, nothing scares me. We will stand strong in front of everyone, with great love and pride. Proud to be part of this nation! Thank you for embracing my heart every time anew, and thank you for giving me your voice.”
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
Yuval concluded the first stage of the final with the song “Dancing Queen”, originally by ABBA but in a ballad version. At the end of the first round, Yuval received 12 points from all judges, placing her at this stage in first place together with Valerie, with 72 points. In the second stage of the final, Yuval performed the song “Writing’s On The Wall”, originally by Sam Smith. At the end of the evening, Yuval was declared the big winner of the season and Israel‘s representative for Eurovision 2025, after winning first place in both the audience and judges’ votes, receiving the highest number of points, which gave her the victory in the final.
After her selection, reactions worldwide were mixed as expected. Alongside support, sympathy, and excitement among Israelis who were happy with her selection and Eurovision fans around the world who were glad for Israel’s new representative, there were quite a few anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli reactions calling for Israel’s disqualification from the competition along with personal insults to Yuval. Such an attempt doesn’t surprise us in Israel, of course, in light of the Eurovision events last year in Malmö. The morning after the final, Israel climbed to fifth place in the Eurovision 2025 winning odds table, and now Israel has risen even higher – reaching second place in the betting odds for winning in Basel!
It’s impossible to know what Yuval will bring with her song at Eurovision, which is expected to be chosen in the coming weeks by an internal professional committee and released in March 2025. Apparently, the choice of Yuval interests the audience worldwide, and despite the expected mixed reactions (given the nature of Israel’s participation in Eurovision, which doesn’t go down smoothly this year either), it’s evident that Yuval’s story and performances make her one of the most prominent possible contenders this year. Will Yuval bring home the trophy? Will we see a top 5 in the final as in the last two years? It’s still impossible to determine.
All that remains is to wish Yuval lots of luck – we’re all behind you!
Israel in Eurovision 2024
“Hurricane” is the name of the song performed by singer Eden Golan, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the tenth season of “HaKokhav Haba“. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 194 points, and in the grand final reached fifth place with 375 points. In the public vote, Israel came in second place, just 14 points behind the first place.
This is the second consecutive time that Israel has reached the top five, an achievement it had not attained since its streak of successes in 1998-1999.
Source: yuvalraphael.
Eurovision 2025: This is Israel’s 47th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the competition in 1973 and has won it four times over the years. Israel’s last victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy” performed by singer Netta Barzilai.
