Eurovision: Hamas attack survivor to represent Israel at 2025 song contest
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A survivor of the Hamas terror attack on the Nova Music festival which killed more than 1,200 people will represent Israel at the 2025 Eurovision. Yuval Raphael, 24, will compete in the song cost in Basel, Switzerland, after winning the Israeli competition Rising Star.
Raphael has told of her experience during the October 7, 2023 attack, which she survived by hiding under dead bodies inside a bomb shelter. She was rescued after eight hours and says she still has shrapnel from the attack embedded in her head and leg. The singer performed a ballad version of Abba’s Dancing Queen during the finale of Rising Star, which she dedicated to the “angels” killed in the attack.
She told the show, in which a jury and viewers selected the Israeli representative to Eurovision: “Music is one of the strongest ingredients in my healing process.”. Her Eurovision song will be selected in March by a committee convened by Israeli public broadcaster Kan.
Speaking after her win, she said: “I can't explain how excited and ready I am! Thank you for giving me this huge honour and trusting me to represent my country on the grand Eurovision stage in Switzerland.”. The 2024 Israeli entry, Eden Golan, placed fifth with the song Hurricane.
Golan was forced to rename her song from ‘October Rain’, as this was judged to breach Eurovision’s rules on political impartiality. However, campaigns launched to block Israel from the event failed after hosting body the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ruled the country was allowed to compete.
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