Israeli singer Yuval Raphael will represent Israel in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest after winning Channel 12’s Rising Star with her renditions of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and Sam Smith’s “Writing’s On The Wall.”
Raphael, 24, from Ra’anana, is a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre and the ‘death shelters,’ the fortified shelters where dozens fled the festival and hid during the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023.
For her first audition, Raphael performed the song “Anyone” by Demi Lovato, earning her the highest score of the season.
As the season progressed, Raphael’s performances, such as Bruno Mars’ “Talking to the Moon” and Demi Lovato’s “Warrior,” stood out, primarily due to the fact that she only began singing professionally after the events of October 7.
Valerie Hamaty won second place on the show. Third place went to Moran Aharoni and Red Band, and earlier this evening, Daniel Weiss finished in fourth place.
The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Switzerland on May 17 and will be broadcast live on KAN 11.
The song she will sing will be selected by a professional committee and will be revealed live during KAN11 broadcast in March.
“I can’t explain how excited and ready I am!! Thank you for giving me the huge privilege and trusting me to represent my people,” Raphael said in a statement released by Channel 12.
Advocacy for Nova survivors
In March of 2024, Raphael joined the Jerusalem Institute of Justice at the UN in Geneva to testify about her experience hiding in the far corner of the public bomb shelter just outside of Kibbutz Be’eri with about 50 other festival attendees.
She spoke about her experience being trapped under the dead body of another young woman for 8 hours, playing dead.
“I can’t explain how heavy a body becomes when it is dead,” she said.
Of the 50 people who hid with Raphael, only 12 survived long enough to be rescued.
Jesus Christ is King
