Israel Tops Eurovision Public Vote, Finishes in 2nd Place As Austria Wins
Israel’s Yuval Raphael overcame protests and personal trauma to win the public vote and secure second place at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland. The Times of Israelhas the story.
Raphael received the most votes from the public, 297, out of any of the 26 finalists, but was only 14th place in the jury vote, landing Israel with a second-place finish.
Austria topped the jury vote and finished fourth in the televote to take the win with its operatic ballad ‘Wasted Love.’ …
The contest’s final result was announced as sirens sounded across central Israel, after the launch of a missile fired by the Houthis in Yemen.
Israel received 12 jury points — the highest possible — from only one country, Azerbaijan. …
“Thank you Europe, Am Yisrael Chai,” Raphael shouted from the stage after completing her song, the emotional power ballad ‘New Day Will Rise.’
According to Israeli reporters in Basel, security thwarted two separate attempts by protesters to rush the stage during Raphael’s performance. …
During Raphael’s performance, some loud whistles could be heard in the arena, but not on the live TV broadcast. …
As Raphael performed, a few hundred people staged an anti-Israel protest in Basel, accusing Israel of genocide and calling for it to be barred from the competition. Some protesters burned Israeli and American flags and fired off smoke bombs.
Blows were exchanged and police used tear gas and rolled in a water cannon truck as they worked to block demonstrators from marching through the centre of the northern Swiss city. …
Over the past year, the European Broadcasting Union steadfastly refused any and all calls for Israel to be barred from the competition. The public broadcasters of Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium appealed to the EBU to ban Israel, and the organisers responded that they would hold a “wider discussion amongst members in due course”.
Both the Belgian and Spanish broadcasters aired pro-Palestinian messages ahead of and during the Eurovision broadcasts. Spain’s RTVE flashed a screen that read in English and Spanish: “When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and Justice for Palestine.”
A message from Belgium’s Flemish VRT broadcaster said it was interrupting the broadcast to protest Israel’s “violation of human rights” as well as its destruction of “freedom of the press”. …
Raphael, a 24 year-old amateur singer from Ra’anana, survived the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. She played dead and hid under a pile of bodies in a roadside bomb shelter for hours, with shrapnel embedded in her leg, until she was ultimately rescued. …
A few hundred anti-Israel activists also held a protest on Wednesday in Basel, and a few dozen took part in a demonstration on Thursday. Basel police said they were investigating after a man was filmed making a throat-slitting gesture toward the Israeli delegation during Sunday’s opening ceremony, during which dozens of people turned out with large Palestinian flags.
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Jabby Mcstiff
10 months ago
If you concern yourself with international affairs you can tend to assume that everyone has an opinion on the things that matter to you. If you were to ask the average white Brit in the street what they thought of Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Palestine they would think that you were asking them about a football match. And so they just listen to the music unblemished and choose the tunes that they like the best. Nothing wrong with that. No one ever consulted them about geopolitics anyway.
Israel.
0.25% of the world’s population.
22% of Nobel Prizes.
Most scientific papers and university degrees per capita.
The only democracy in the Middle East.
The only ME country with full religious freedom.
The most museums and business start ups per capita.
5 major Hollywood studios founded by Jews.
God’s Chosen People, His Special Possession.
Do remember that the point of God,s choice of them was so that they would be a blessing, such that all people on earth would be blessed through them; this was the promise to Abram.
That crucial phrase was omitted from all other Bible translations, like many other crucial phrases from the original William Tyndale Bible, upon which the others are based.
William Tyndale was burnt at the stake by Catholics for translating the Bible into English.
OK, this is seriously taking the Mick now. I think Jihadists have a sweet tooth. But honestly, how do they get to make all this stuff?? While we’re being fed lies they’re being fed a luxurious, diabetes-inducing smorgasbord;
”Straight from Khan Younis — just filmed. Truly inspiring to see such resilience — and dessert. As they say: “Make cakes, not war.”
I am afraid you are “seriously taking the Mick” or do you believe this stuff? Such videos typify the utter disdain Israelis hold for their Palestinian victims as well as displaying the total callousness of the Israelis. Are you really trying to convince us the whole world has been deceived and there is no genocide? Seriously? All the sittings of the ICJ were a joke? You think the Irish lawyer, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, for example, was spouting complete nonsense before the ICJ two weeks ago? Was Under-General-Secretary Tom Fletcher totally misled in asking the UN Security Council,“What more evidence do you need?” a few days ago? These talks are easily accessible on YouTube and so much more relevant information is available on the internet, even on Israeli websites. But I am sure you are well aware of what is happening in Gaza. I do not care about anyone’s religion, so I have no understanding for many people on this website claiming that somehow the Israelis, simply on the basis they are Jewish, are very special and have every right to indiscriminately murder completely innocent men, women and children en masse, and furthermore to starve any survivors. The videos you cite… Read more »
While 58 hostages are still unaccounted for with some hope that 20 are still alive; with those that have been released Hamas could not resist making a spectacle, but which did enable us all to see how well groomed well clothed and well fed all that mob were, thus belying all the propaganda on Hamas’ behalf on their being shortages of food, water, electricity and fuel in Gaza; and by contrast with it recently being 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camps anyone who wished will have seen pictures of the real condition of victims of genocide. Even accepting Hamas’ figures on casualties,Hamas, in its reports of casualties, never mentions the number of its terrorists, which must make up a big part of the total. If Hamas was at all concerned with the well being of the inhabitants of Gaza it would have by now released all the hostages and laid down its arms, but this would be incongruent for a group which has spent the last 18 years whilst in control of Gaza converting water pipes into rocket launchers and constructing a labyrinth of tunnels longer in mileage than the London underground. Its strategy was to commit… Read more »
The one country and government that is least interested in the lives of the hostages taken by Hamas is Israel. That is clear from the present and past behaviour of IDF in indiscriminately carpet bombing Gaza, and its adherence to the Hannibal doctrine. The few times foreign mediators actually negotiated with Hamas always resulted in hostages being exchanged for imprisoned Palestinians. (Israel always subjected citizens of Gaza to random arrest and imprisonment without charge, inevitably involving continued torture, so imprisoned Palestinians can equally be regarded as ‘hostages’.) You refer to the Holocaust as though that can be used as justification for Israel to commit any atrocity it wishes: surely it should be the opposite? As you well know, the Palestinians had nothing whatsoever to do with the Holocaust. And the problem of Gaza did not begin on 7th October 2023. How many times has Gaza been described as an open-air prison or even concentration camp? You cite Hussein and Assad (really?) as being responsible for slaughtering their own citizens but have you not heard of Israel demanding USA go to war with seven countries, and that being the reason for the Gulf wars, the attacks on Libya, Lebanon and so… Read more »
OK Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium your card is marked accordingly.
No surprise Israel won the publicvote but lost the elite’s votes. I expect they each have a couple of islamists in their cellars.
Claphamanian
10 months ago
The Eurovision Song Contest is advertised as unifying through music. Yet if voting is made because of politics or even sympathy it has nothing to do with music. Music has had no effect on unifying these protesters with those they protest against or their representatives in this competition. The Sunday newspapers in the UK were speculating about why an actor scheduled to provide the commentary pulled out after the Israeli entry passed the semi-finals. Music not enough to unify the rainbow? Note that the Azerbaijani vote is passed by without comment in the newspaper. Azerbaijan is an oil state and supplies considerable amounts of oil to Israel, despite the Azeris being Muslims. The Israeli entry in this competition received the most public vote from the rest of the world, which counts as one country for the purpose of allocating points. The way in which the public voting is carried out – block voting – means that while the public in a country can vote for all the eligible 26 candidates (not for their own), there are only 11 of them who can receive the points ranging from 12 to 1. For example, though the UK public may have voted for… Read more »
RTSC
10 months ago
Those pesky people didn’t vote the way they were supposed to ….. again! Best cancel them.
I predict that “the popular vote” will get scrapped next time the Eurovision farce is held.
Yes, that’s what I was wondering. And Central Asian countries like Azerbaijan???
Europe stops at the Dardanelles.
Peter Sutton
10 months ago
The fact that anyone considers a ridiculous song contest, consisting of music and performers of very questionable quality, to be important in geo political terms shows just how childish this world has become.
As a child, I used to think Eurovision was all about the music. But I guess it never was really. It’s just that back then the competitors were basically from Western Europe, with similar cultural heritage. It made it easier to overlook the politics.
Simon MacPhisto
10 months ago
Spain’s public vote gave 12 points to Israel. Just goes to show how out of touch broadcasters and politicians are.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
If you concern yourself with international affairs you can tend to assume that everyone has an opinion on the things that matter to you. If you were to ask the average white Brit in the street what they thought of Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Palestine they would think that you were asking them about a football match. And so they just listen to the music unblemished and choose the tunes that they like the best. Nothing wrong with that. No one ever consulted them about geopolitics anyway.
Excellent post.
Israel.
0.25% of the world’s population.
22% of Nobel Prizes.
Most scientific papers and university degrees per capita.
The only democracy in the Middle East.
The only ME country with full religious freedom.
The most museums and business start ups per capita.
5 major Hollywood studios founded by Jews.
God’s Chosen People, His Special Possession.
Do remember that the point of God,s choice of them was so that they would be a blessing, such that all people on earth would be blessed through them; this was the promise to Abram.
Jesus said:
“Therefore say I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to the Gentiles, which shall bring forth the fruits of it.”
Matthew 21:43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be t…
In the modern spelling of the William Tyndale and Coverdale Bibles:
Jesus said:
“Therefore say I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to the Gentiles, which shall bring forth the fruits of it.”
Matthew 21:43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be t…
That crucial phrase was omitted from all other Bible translations, like many other crucial phrases from the original William Tyndale Bible, upon which the others are based.
William Tyndale was burnt at the stake by Catholics for translating the Bible into English.
Not really a democracy – activist judges are just as keen to overrule elected politicians as in the US.
Just another day in the genocide-riven, famine-struck open air prison that is Gaza;
https://x.com/GAZAWOOD1/status/1921514654360125734
At least they’ve got the bare essentials covered, though, which saves the populace from starvation: rice, flour, fortified long-life products…
https://x.com/GAZAWOOD1/status/1922338130637582449
OK, this is seriously taking the Mick now. I think Jihadists have a sweet tooth. But honestly, how do they get to make all this stuff?? While we’re being fed lies they’re being fed a luxurious, diabetes-inducing smorgasbord;
”Straight from Khan Younis — just filmed.
Truly inspiring to see such resilience — and dessert.
As they say: “Make cakes, not war.”
https://x.com/GAZAWOOD1/status/1922281759044927518
I am afraid you are “seriously taking the Mick” or do you believe this stuff? Such videos typify the utter disdain Israelis hold for their Palestinian victims as well as displaying the total callousness of the Israelis. Are you really trying to convince us the whole world has been deceived and there is no genocide? Seriously? All the sittings of the ICJ were a joke? You think the Irish lawyer, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, for example, was spouting complete nonsense before the ICJ two weeks ago? Was Under-General-Secretary Tom Fletcher totally misled in asking the UN Security Council,“What more evidence do you need?” a few days ago? These talks are easily accessible on YouTube and so much more relevant information is available on the internet, even on Israeli websites. But I am sure you are well aware of what is happening in Gaza. I do not care about anyone’s religion, so I have no understanding for many people on this website claiming that somehow the Israelis, simply on the basis they are Jewish, are very special and have every right to indiscriminately murder completely innocent men, women and children en masse, and furthermore to starve any survivors. The videos you cite… Read more »
While 58 hostages are still unaccounted for with some hope that 20 are still alive; with those that have been released Hamas could not resist making a spectacle, but which did enable us all to see how well groomed well clothed and well fed all that mob were, thus belying all the propaganda on Hamas’ behalf on their being shortages of food, water, electricity and fuel in Gaza; and by contrast with it recently being 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camps anyone who wished will have seen pictures of the real condition of victims of genocide. Even accepting Hamas’ figures on casualties,Hamas, in its reports of casualties, never mentions the number of its terrorists, which must make up a big part of the total. If Hamas was at all concerned with the well being of the inhabitants of Gaza it would have by now released all the hostages and laid down its arms, but this would be incongruent for a group which has spent the last 18 years whilst in control of Gaza converting water pipes into rocket launchers and constructing a labyrinth of tunnels longer in mileage than the London underground. Its strategy was to commit… Read more »
The one country and government that is least interested in the lives of the hostages taken by Hamas is Israel. That is clear from the present and past behaviour of IDF in indiscriminately carpet bombing Gaza, and its adherence to the Hannibal doctrine. The few times foreign mediators actually negotiated with Hamas always resulted in hostages being exchanged for imprisoned Palestinians. (Israel always subjected citizens of Gaza to random arrest and imprisonment without charge, inevitably involving continued torture, so imprisoned Palestinians can equally be regarded as ‘hostages’.) You refer to the Holocaust as though that can be used as justification for Israel to commit any atrocity it wishes: surely it should be the opposite? As you well know, the Palestinians had nothing whatsoever to do with the Holocaust. And the problem of Gaza did not begin on 7th October 2023. How many times has Gaza been described as an open-air prison or even concentration camp? You cite Hussein and Assad (really?) as being responsible for slaughtering their own citizens but have you not heard of Israel demanding USA go to war with seven countries, and that being the reason for the Gulf wars, the attacks on Libya, Lebanon and so… Read more »
Hamas are the prison guards.
And Israel gave Britain ZERO points.
An Austrian beat the Jew.
This is inappropriate. The panel of judges is probably racist.
OK Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Belgium your card is marked accordingly.
No surprise Israel won the publicvote but lost the elite’s votes. I expect they each have a couple of islamists in their cellars.
The Eurovision Song Contest is advertised as unifying through music. Yet if voting is made because of politics or even sympathy it has nothing to do with music. Music has had no effect on unifying these protesters with those they protest against or their representatives in this competition. The Sunday newspapers in the UK were speculating about why an actor scheduled to provide the commentary pulled out after the Israeli entry passed the semi-finals. Music not enough to unify the rainbow? Note that the Azerbaijani vote is passed by without comment in the newspaper. Azerbaijan is an oil state and supplies considerable amounts of oil to Israel, despite the Azeris being Muslims. The Israeli entry in this competition received the most public vote from the rest of the world, which counts as one country for the purpose of allocating points. The way in which the public voting is carried out – block voting – means that while the public in a country can vote for all the eligible 26 candidates (not for their own), there are only 11 of them who can receive the points ranging from 12 to 1. For example, though the UK public may have voted for… Read more »
Those pesky people didn’t vote the way they were supposed to ….. again! Best cancel them.
I predict that “the popular vote” will get scrapped next time the Eurovision farce is held.
And yet the Co-op AGM voted to not do any business with Israeli companies. Strange times.
Not sure which is more boring Star Bores or the “Eurovision” Song Contest. And since when has Isreal been “in Europe”?
Yes, that’s what I was wondering. And Central Asian countries like Azerbaijan???
Europe stops at the Dardanelles.
The fact that anyone considers a ridiculous song contest, consisting of music and performers of very questionable quality, to be important in geo political terms shows just how childish this world has become.
As a child, I used to think Eurovision was all about the music. But I guess it never was really. It’s just that back then the competitors were basically from Western Europe, with similar cultural heritage. It made it easier to overlook the politics.
Spain’s public vote gave 12 points to Israel. Just goes to show how out of touch broadcasters and politicians are.