Eurovision Song About Love Met With Hate: Israeli Contestant Faces Backlash
A song about love, loss, and renewal has been met with a wave of hatred and calls for its removal from the Eurovision contest. Yuval Raphael, a 24-year-old Nova survivor representing Israel, has been facing backlash for her song "A New Day Will Rise," which she will perform in this week’s Eurovision contest.
According to a report by Aish.com, Yuval’s song is a powerful message of resilience and unity, but it has been ignored by many Eurovision fans who are instead heaping hatred on her shoulders, calling for her to be banned. Yuval’s experience at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was one of unimaginable horror. She was attending the festival in the Re’im Forest, an idyllic wooded area near Gaza, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, targeting festival-goers and killing 364 young people.
As reported by Aish.com, Yuval and her friends crammed into a fortified bus shelter with about 50 other people, where they were subjected to hours of terror. Yuval’s father advised her to pretend to be dead, and she was eventually rescued with serious head and leg injuries. Her song, written by Israeli songwriter Keren Peles, conveys a message of remembering and honoring the generation of youth Israel has lost.
The lyrics of "A New Day Will Rise" mourn those we loved and lost: "New day will rise / Life will go on / Everyone cries / Don’t cry alone / Darkness will fade / All the pain will go by / But we will stay / Even if you say goodbye." As Aish.com notes, the song’s Hebrew lines quote the Song of Songs: "Vast floods cannot quench love / Nor rivers drown it" (Song of Songs 8:7).
Despite the powerful message of Yuval’s song, many Eurovision participants and fans are directing hatred against her and Israel. Several national broadcasters, including Iceland’s, Ireland’s, Spain’s, and Slovenia’s, are calling for Yuval to be kicked out of this year’s Eurovision. Twenty-six members of the European Union Parliament issued a letter demanding that Yuval be removed from the contest.
As Aish.com reports, Yuval has met with Eden Golan, Israel’s 2024 entry in the Eurovision contest, to discuss strategies for surviving the week-long contest. Despite making it to the final top five in last year’s Eurovision, Eden faced death threats and hatred from fans and her fellow contestants.
The backlash against Yuval and Israel has been intense, with recent events indicating that she might face a similarly hostile environment. Last week, Switzerland’s national fencing team turned their backs on their Israeli counterparts after Israel won the European Championships. Amidst this surge of hatred, Israel’s National Security Council took the unusual step of warning Israelis traveling to watch the contest live in Basel, Switzerland not to display Jewish symbols in public.
In the face of this hatred, Yuval’s song "A New Day Will Rise" is a powerful answer. As Aish.com notes, Eurovision 2025 starts on May 13 and concludes on May 17, with 37 nations participating and an audience of over 150 million people. It is an opportunity to showcase the incredible beauty and resilience of Yuval Raphael and her entire generation of Israelis.
As Yuval said, "Music is one of the strongest ingredients in my healing process." Her song is a testament to the power of love and unity in the face of hatred and adversity. According to Aish.com, let’s cheer on Yuval and Israel, and draw on the timeless words in her song: "Vast floods cannot quench love."
