Israel’s Yuval Raphael finished in second place at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel on Saturday night with her emotionally charged and polished performance of New Day Will Rise. The Israeli singer garnered 357 points, trailing behind Austria’s JJ, who won the contest with 436 points for the song Wasted Love.
“This is for you, Europe. Am Yisrael Chai!” Raphael declared at the end of her performance, using the Hebrew phrase meaning “The people of Israel live.”
Yuval Raphael's Eurovision final perfromance
(Video: Kan, EBU)
Austria’s victory marks the country’s third in Eurovision history and its first since Conchita Wurst’s triumph in 2014. Estonia’s Tommy Cash came in third with the song Espresso Macchiato, followed by Swedish group KAJ in fourth place with Bara Badu Bastu. Despite leading the betting charts in the weeks leading up to the final, the Swedish act fell short of expectations.
This marks the third time Israel has placed second in the competition. The last time was over four decades ago, when Avi Toledano’s Hora took second place in 1982, followed by Ofra Haza’s Chai in 1983. Coinciding with Saturday’s announcement of the winner, air raid sirens sounded across Israel amid missile fire from Yemen.
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Raphael received 60 points from the professional juries, including 12 from Azerbaijan, seven each from France and Ireland, six from Croatia and five from the Netherlands, Albania and Cyprus. Other points came from Denmark, Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Luxembourg, Greece and Georgia.
The public vote delivered a dramatic boost, awarding Israel 297 points—more than any other country in the audience tally.
“I love the people of Israel more than anything in the world,” Raphael said after the final results were announced. “Am Yisrael Chai!”
Yoav Tzafir, Israel’s Eurovision delegation head, told Ynet: “Yuval is a queen. A rare phenomenon—someone who hadn’t performed on stage until six months ago, yet delivered like a world-class vocalist. She was moving and captivating. If the juries were a bit more genuine, the victory would have been ours by far.”
Eden Golan, Israel’s 2024 Eurovision representative in Malmö, delivered the country’s jury results while wearing a dress featuring a symbol representing the hostages still held in Gaza. Israel awarded its 12 points to Greece, followed by 10 to Germany, eight to Malta, and additional points to Latvia, Austria, Armenia, Ukraine, Italy, Luxembourg and Poland.