Israeli singer Yuval Raphael thanked the scores of fans who greeted her at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday after her second-place finish at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Grand Final in Basel, Switzerland the previous night.
“I really hope that I brought you a lot of pride; it’s all that I wanted. Thank you. I feel a huge, huge victory, but we will not have a real victory until all of our hostages return home,” the 24-year-old said.
“I slept only 45 minutes since last night, so I don’t know how I’m functioning at the moment,” Raphael continued. “But how hard is it really to receive love?
“Thank you so much for granting me the privilege of being your voice, that you trusted me to share our message.”
Although Raphael easily won the popular vote among audiences across Europe, earning 297 points, she came in a disappointing 14th in the jury vote, with only Azerbaijan giving her the maximum 12 points.
After winning the public vote, Raphael scored 357 points for Israel in a nail-biting finish, behind Austria with 436 points and just ahead of Estonia with 356.
“I’ve never felt so victorious in my life,” said Raphael in the wake of her win, draped in an Israeli flag. She pointedly declared, “Am Yisrael Chai!” (The people of Israel live!) at the end of the performance of her hopeful ballad, “New Day Will Rise,” written and composed by singer-songwriter Keren Peles.
Raphael, who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre at the Supernova music festival, took the stage in Basel amid heightened political tension, with boos (not audible on television) from some in the audience protesting Israel’s participation, and pro-Palestinian protests outside the arena.
