Israel selects October 7 survivor Yuval Raphael as Eurovision entrant
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The 24-year-old hid inside a bomb shelter from Hamas during its attacks at Nova Music Festival in 2023. Israel has selected an October 7 survivor, who hid from Hamas in a bomb shelter for eight hours, to represent the country at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
![[Israel's Eurovision Song Contest representative, Yuval Raphael, performing on the TV talent contest ‘Rising Star’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/12/2025-01-23T083657Z_1887000475_RC2JFCAER6XX_RTRMADP_3_MUSIC-EUROVISION-ISRAEL.jpg)
Yuval Raphael, 24, was chosen to compete at May’s contest in Basel, Switzerland, after she won the final of the Israeli talent show Rising Star, which took place this week in the Israeli village of Neve Ilan. She won the competition after performing a rendition of Abba’s “Dancing Queen”, dedicating it to “all the angels” who were killed at the festival. Her official Eurovision song will be selected internally by a committee.
![[Israel’s Eurovision Song Contest representative Yuval Raphael]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/12/2025-01-23T083653Z_1217441569_RC2JFCAEPAI3_RTRMADP_3_MUSIC-EUROVISION-ISRAEL.jpg)
Raphael, from the Israeli city of Ra’anana, survived Hamas’s attack on the Nova Music Festival on 7 October 2023, which killed 360 partygoers and took 40 more hostage. She says she survived by hiding under dead bodies inside a bomb shelter for eight hours.
![[Eden Golan represented Israel at Eurovision in 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/05/11/20/Screenshot%202024-05-11%20203715.jpg)
The singer has been sharing her story while competing on the talent show, and said she still has shrapnel in her head and leg from the festival attack. She said after winning the show: “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.”.
Raphael will follow in the footsteps of last year’s contestant Eden Golan, who represented Israel at the contest in Malmö, Sweden, and placed fifth, despite protesters boycotting the competition over Israel’s involvement amid its war in Gaza. Golan was continuously booed throughout her rehearsals and performances, and was reportedly confined to her hotel room when she wasn’t performing.
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