Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival Massacre, has won second place at the Eurovision Song Contest.
By Rachel Avraham
Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival Massacre, has won second place at the Eurovision Song Context and has won the popular vote across Europe. According to the Eurovision website, Yuval Raphael’s “New Day Will Rise” got 357 points, with 297 of them coming from the public.
The public in Azerbaijan, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxemburg, Sweden, Portugal, UK, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia and outside of Europe gave Raphael 12 points, while the jury in Azerbaijan also gave Israel 12 points. Azerbaijan was the only national jury that gave Israel 12 points. If it were not for the jury vote, Israel would have come in first place, as Israel only got 60 jury votes. However, what this Eurovision song contest has shown is that the public in Europe does not agree with their biased national juries and that Israel really has come in first place in spirit.
“Thank you Europe, Am Yisrael Chai,” Raphael shouted from the stage after completing her song, the emotional power ballad “New Day Will Rise.” Israel’s Yuval Raphael said in the early hours of Sunday that she felt as though she had “won at life” after finishing in second place overall at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland, and first in the public vote, the Times of Israel reported.
“All I wanted to do was bring honor and pride to this country, to make them proud, to give them a small second of peace amid all the madness,” she said, referring to the ongoing war in Gaza, triggered by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre, the Times of Israel noted. Taking a moment to reflect, Raphael said that there is “no real victory” like the victory that Israel will experience when the remaining 58 hostages are recovered from Gaza, the Times of Israel added.
When Hamas attacked the Nova music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Yuval Raphael went from dancing with friends to hiding in a bomb shelter, the New York Times noted. No fewer than 60 Israelis crammed into the small shelter, hoping to get out alive—but only a few of them survived, JNS reported. After attackers broke into the shelter and started shooting partygoers, Raphael played dead, then lay beneath bodies for eight hours until she was rescued, with shrapnel in her leg, the New York Times added.
“I had very difficult hours in the shelter,” she told JNS. “In order not to be murdered, I had to hide with bodies, and to get out of there, I had to step on bodies,” she recounts. She was one of the few in the shelter who came out alive.
“I’ll say something that probably only those who survived Nova will understand, after you come out of such an event, you’re full of guilt feelings,” she told JNS. “You ask yourself many questions, and the central one is ‘Why was I saved and not them?’ After I made peace with that, I want to give my dreams a chance.”
The Nova Music Festival massacre, Raphael told Israel Hayom, changed her outlook on life. “When I was there, I realized that everything could be over in a moment, and you don’t want your life to end without experiencing it,” she said. Not long after the attacks, Raphael said, she resolved to follow her long-held dream of becoming a professional singer, the New York Times stressed. Now, Raphael, 24, is representing Israel at Eurovision with “New Day Will Rise,” a ballad in which she sings, over twinkling piano, “New day will rise / Life will go on / Everyone cries / Don’t cry alone.” It is these lyrics which have captivated all of Europe and the entire world.
According to Israeli reporters in Basel, Eurovision security thwarted two separate attempts by protesters to disrupt Raphael’s performance, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, the incidents were not seen on the live TV broadcast, and the Israeli singer did not appear to be aware of them in real time. At the same time, anti-Israel protests took place in Basel, with one of the protesters gesturing that he sought to cut Yuval’s throat. He was subsequently reported to the police. Despite the backlash she’s received, Raphael has said she is committed to honoring her country, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Photo from Tal Givony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuval_Raphael#/media/File:%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91%D7%9C_%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%90%D7%
