Israel’s Eurovision Song Contest 2025 act Yuval Raphael has revealed she has prepared for ‘booing’.
There are expected to be protests in Basel throughout the week, and a pro-Palestinian group is planning a large gathering for Saturday amid the war in Gaza.
Last year, there were also demonstrations over the inclusion of Israel’s act Eden Golan, 21, whose performances were met with cheers and boos.
Asked if she was anticipating a similar reaction, Raphael, 24, said to the BBC: ‘I think I’m expecting it. But we are here to sing and I’m going to sing my heart out for everyone.’
She also told the publication she had practised being booed.
It comes after Kan, the national broadcaster of Israel, filed a police complaint after a ‘throat-slitting’ gesture appeared in the opening ceremony of Eurovision 2025.
In the video, a man can be seen holding a Palestinian flag and making a gesture that looks like a throat-slitting motion as Raphael walks past him during the turquoise carpet event.
Kan immediately responded by filing an official complaint with the Swiss police in Basel, Switzerland, where the 69th Eurovision song contest final will take place
The broadcaster also reportedly contacted EBU (European Broadcasting Union), requesting the identification of the individual and his removal from all activities related to the contest.
It was later announced that Raphael, Israel’s representative in the competition, would not be giving interviews to accredited journalists.
It has been reported that this was because of security reasons.
Raphael is an Israeli singer who only began singing professionally in 2023.
In November 2024, Raphael’s audition for the eleventh season of Israeli interactive reality singing competition, HaKokhav HaBa.
The contest served as the Israeli artist selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
The singer survived the October 2023 Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival near the Gaza border.
Israel first joined the live music event in 1973, and became the first participant not located geographically in Europe.
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The EBU emphasised that Israel is allowed to compete in the competition as the country is represented by Kan and not its government.
The country’s participation in the show has been controversial and a new open letter has demanded that Kan be banned.
In an open letter to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), 72 musicians, lyricists and performers associated with the contest called for the exclusion of Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster.
The letter alleged the broadcaster was ‘complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people.’
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The open letter also accuses Eurovision organisers of ‘whitewashing and normalising [Israel’s] crimes’ by ‘continuing to platform’ the country and for a ‘double-standard’ after expelling Russia from the competition in 2022.
A spokesperson for the EBU said in a subsequent statement: ‘We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the current conflict in the Middle East. The EBU is not immune to global events but, together with our members, it is our role to ensure the contest remains, at its heart, a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music.
‘We all aspire to keep the Eurovision song contest positive and inclusive and aspire to show the world as it could be, rather than how it necessarily is.’
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It marks the latest point of tension in Eurovision’s ongoing challenge to reconcile cultural celebration with political reality, following Switzerland’s decision to ban artists from taking Pride flags on stage.
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