Despite all the controversy regarding Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2025, the country has qualified for the finals. This comes after Israel’s Eurovision representative, 24-year-old Yuval Raphael was interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists during her dress rehearsal. On May 15, six people with large Palestinian flags disrupted her performance of “New Day Will Rise,” but they were quickly removed from the arena. Although flags are allowed within the arena, the rules state that they must be a certain size.
The interruption joins the collection of various protests from Eurovision participants and team members regarding Israel’s participation in the music contest. This comes due to the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine, of which has raised multiple humanitarian concerns regarding the treatment of Palestinians. According to NME, Israel’s involvement in Eurovision has been protested or questioned by over 70 previous Eurovision contestants, four broadcasters from multiple countries, the RTVE from Spain, Slovenia’s RTV SLO and Iceland’s foreign minister.
Israeli contestant, Yuval Raphael stated she prepared for interruptions and booing during her final performance, thus she practiced with multiple distractions. Additionally, Raphael is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival attack on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed by Hamas and 251 were taken hostage. This event has since triggered the massive attack on Gaza which has killed over 52,800 people within the city. Despite all of this, the EBU has a rule that states no political statements can be made during Eurovision, meaning Raphael is not permitted to discuss current events.
Countries disqualified right before the finals include: Australia, Ireland, Czechia, Georgia, Montenegro and Serbia. Although Israel prevailed during the protests, they were still unable to claim the trophy and ended in second place. Austria’s contestant JJ and his song “Wasted Love” have been declared as the official winner of Eurovision 2025.
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