Israel has chosen Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival attack on October 7 2023, to represent them at Eurovision this year.
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Raphael won the Israeli talent show HaKokhav HaBa (The Next Star), meaning she gets to compete at Eurovision in Basel, Switzerland, in May.
The 24-year-old singer told the story during her time in the competition, saying she survived the attack on Nova by hiding under dead bodies inside a bomb shelter for eight hours. Raphael also said she still has shrapnel in her head and leg from the attack.
The singer only began singing professionally last year, saying “music is one of the strongest ingredients in my healing process” during the show.
Her official song will be confirmed in the coming weeks by Israeli public broadcaster Kan, according to the Eurovision Song Contest website.
The attack by Hamas on October 7, which targeted nearby Israeli communities and IDF bases as well as the music festival, was responsible for the deaths of 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage. There were 360 casualties at the festival alone and 40 hostages taken.
It provoked a 15-month long attack on Gaza, during which 47,100 people were killed. A ceasefire began last week.
The inclusion of Israel at last year’s Eurovision proved controversial. Contestant Eden Golan’s song was originally called ‘October Rain’ and made reference to the attacks, but was barred from performance due to breaking rules on political neutrality.
“They were all good children, each one of them”, Golan previously sang in the track. The song also alluded to “flowers”, which has been interpreted as a potential reference to war fatalities. As such, Israel threatened to withdraw from the competition if changes were to be made.
However, they still competed with the song’s title changed to ‘Hurricane’, and some lyrics were changed also. Golan placed fifth overall.
Israel’s inclusion prompted boycott calls from the LGBT+ community towards UK representative Olly Alexander, and over 1,000 Swedish artists also called for Israel to be banned – including Robyn, Fever Ray, and First Aid Kit – and more. Over 1,400 Finnish music industry professionals signed a petition to ban the country from taking part in the contest as well.
Israel was ultimately allowed to compete, and due to a political neutrality clause, the EBU announced they reserved the right to remove Palestinian flags and symbols. They would later go on to censor Irish contestant Bambie Thug for wearing the words ‘ceasefire’ and ‘freedom for Palestine’ as a hidden message on their costume.
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