Yuval Raphael, a survivor of Hamas’s October 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival, was selected to represent Israel at the 69th Eurovision song contest, which begins on May 13, and to take place in Basel, Switzerland.
The decision was made on Channel 12’s “Next Star” competition for her rendition of “Writing’s On the Wall.”
Raphael survived the Nova massacre by hiding under the dead bodies and pretending to be dead.
Last year, Israel’s candidate Eden Golan came in fifth place. She had to deal with open antisemitism at the contest from the audience and even fellow performers. The European Broadcasting Union made her change the name of her song from “October Rain” which they deemed too political. She renamed it Hurricane.