Israel: Yuval Raphael selected for Eurovision 2025
The Final of Israel's HaKokhav HaBa was held tonight with four artists fighting for the throne. The Israeli representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be Yuval Raphael
The Final of talent show HaKokhav HaBa in Israel was held tonight in Neve Ilan.
The first show of talent show HaKokhav HaBa (The Next Star / הכוכב הבא) was aired back in November 2024, and after numerous auditions and elimination rounds it was time for the Final tonight. The Final was held in Neve Ilan and hosted by Assi Azar (host of Eurovision 2019) and Rotem Sela.
The four finalists performed covers of songs, and the top-3 advanced to the Superfinal. Here, the three participants who were still in the competition each sang a song, and then it was time for the final vote.
And... Eden Golan's successor for Eurovision is: Yuval Raphael.
HaKokhav HaBa – Final
First round
| artist | cover song | RUNNING |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel WeissEliminated | Let It Be | 1 |
| Red Band & Moran Aharoni | Hey Shketa (היי שקטה) | 2 |
| Valerie Hamaty | When You're Sad (כשאת עצובה) | 3 |
| Yuval Raphael | Dancing Queen | 4 |
| Voting | Public voting Judges |
Superfinal
points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Artist | Cover Song | Total | Judges | Public | running |
| 1 | Yuval Raphael | Writings on the Wall | 157 | 70 | 87 | 2 |
| 2 | Valerie Hamaty | Imagine | 111 | 56 | 55 | 3 |
| 3 | Red Band & Moran Aharoni | Purple Rain | 92 | 54 | 38 | 1 |
| Voting | 50% public voting 50% judges |
The song that Yuval Raphael will sing on the Eurovision stage in May will be selected internally by a committee.
The song will include Hebrew lyrics and will be announced in March 2025. Annoucing the selected singer a few weeks earlier than usual will allow songwriters in Israel to know the identity of the singer before they write the song and create a song that is more tailored to the singer’s voice and identity.
Yuval Raphael
Yuval, 24, has never performed or sung professionally before HaKokhav HaBa as she was very shy and avoided singing for many years. She lives in the Israeli city of Ra’anana, same as the Israeli artist for Eurovision 2023, Noa Kirel. Growing up Yuval and her family lived in Geneva, Switzerland for 3 years, which made her fluent in French.
Yuval Raphael survived the Nova Music Festival massacre on 7 October 2023 after hiding from Hamas in a small bomb shelter together with 50 other people. The terrorists found the shelter and strafed it with bullets multiple times. Only 11 out of the 50 people in the shelter survived. Yuval had to play dead under dead bodies for 8 hours.
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
Israel has participated in Eurovision 46 times since their debut in 1973. They have won the contest four times:
- 1978: Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta - Abanibi
- 1979: Milk and Honey - Hallelujah
- 1998: Dana International - Diva
- 2018: Netta Barzilai - Toy
Israel has never finished last in the contest! Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, Israel has qualified for the Grand Final 13 out of 20 times.
