Israel’s Yuval Raphael takes second place in Eurovision with highest number of points from public vote

Israel’s Yuval Raphael secured an impressive second place in the Eurovision final on Saturday night in the Swiss city of Basel. Despite this strong result, Israel received only 60 points from the professional jury, which initially placed it in 14th position.

Austria’s performer, JJ, won the competition with the song “Wasted Love.”

Azerbaijan – a Muslim-majority country with friendly ties to Israel – was the only jurist to award Israel the maximum 12 points. Notably, the Irish jurist gave Israel 7 points, despite the prevailing anti-Israel sentiment within the Irish government.

However, Raphael’s song “New Day Will Rise” received a whopping 297 points from the public, the highest number of points in the entire competition. The backing of millions of voters across Europe elevated Israel to the second place. Estonia finished in the third place and the favorite Sweden ended in fourth place. 

Following her performance, Raphael thanked Europe. 

“Thank you, Europe. Am Yisrael Chai (The People of Israel Live),” she said with pride.

The announcement of the final Eurovision results coincided with another Houthi missile fired at Israel, which was successfully intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense systems. 

Israel’s public broadcaster Kan stated that it “will not address security issues at the event. We are very proud of Yuval Raphael’s perfect performance on the stage.”

Raphael, who survived the Hamas Nova Music Festival massacre, secured Israel’s place in the final with a strong performance in the semifinal on Thursday. 

Raphael’s second place was achieved despite vocal anti-Israel opponents in Switzerland and internationally. Some radicalized anti-Israel protesters burned Israeli and American flags and even fired off smoke bombs. 

More than 70 former Eurovision participants recently demanded a boycott against Israel, accusing it of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza war, which began when the terrorist organization Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 people from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Security was forced to intervene during the final and prevent anti-Israel protesters from disturbing Raphael as she performed on the stage. 

Raphael thanked both Israeli and local security for keeping her and her team safe in Switzerland. 

“I don’t know if you understand how much it’s not a given that I felt comfortable, and I felt safe, after what I went through and everything we saw over the past few days,” she said in a video that was shared by the broadcaster Kan. “I wasn’t afraid for one second, honestly,” she added while receiving applause from the rest of the Israeli team.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog congratulated Raphael following her Eurovision achievement and praised her as a survivor and “daughter of Israel.” 

“Dear and amazing Yuval, how wonderful. You truly succeeded. First of all, your performance was tremendous. It was perfect – exceptional. I was so moved. You are truly a daughter of Israel for all of us, breaking through the highest ceiling in the world – it’s simply incredible. Just think where you were 590 days ago,” Herzog said, referring to Raphael’s surviving the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. 

“Your cry of ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ touched our hearts. Thank you for representing the State of Israel with such honor,” the president added. 

Yuval responded by expressing pride and gratitude that she was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision competition. 

“It was the greatest honor in the world to be the voice of this country. It was the greatest honor and the greatest privilege in the world. And I will always remember that I was given this voice, and that I was given the chance to be the voice of this people,” Raphael said. 

 “I want to thank you for the support you gave me – it strengthened me so much. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it until everyone is home: our only and greatest victory is when all the hostages return home,” she added. 

Israel, which has participated in the Eurovision since 1973, has won the competition on four occasions: 1978, 1979, 1998 and in 2018 when Netta Barzilai won with the song “Toy.”