Yuval Raphael, Israel’s entry for the Eurovision song contest, survived the Palestinian Hamas massacre at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, but was forced to face hatred once again during Thursday night’s second semi-final in Basel, Switzerland. Raphael sang “New Day Will Rise” by songwriter Keren Peles. Boos from the audience marred her performance and the waving of Palestinian flags.

Pro-Hamas protests before the contest led the European Broadcasting Union to update its flag policy, allowing PLO flags and other banners to be displayed in the audience, so long as they are not “associated with hate, terrorism or violence.” Hamas supporters and some broadcasters, including Spain’s RTVE, called for Israel to be banned, but the Eurovision directors resisted this. 

According to the rules, Political messaging is banned on stage, and only national flags are allowed during performances and official events. Last year, Israel’s entry, ”October Rain”, was deemed too political and was disqualified.

The song was written by Keren Peles and produced by Tomer Biran. It blends English, Hebrew, and French and focuses on resilience, memory, and hope. 

The song contains the Hebrew verse from Song of Songs (8:7).

 The Grand Final is scheduled for Saturday night in Basel, with Israel performing fourth out of 26 countries. The winners of the semifinals are determined by audience voting, which tends to favor Israel, while a combination of the audience votes and the national juries determines the final winner. Audiences all over the world can vote at https://www.esc.vote/.

Israel has won the music competition four times in its 52-year run: in 1978, 1979, 1998 and most recently in 2018, with Netta Barzilai’s “Toy.” Though a number of countries expressed disapproval of Israel hosting the 2019 show in Tel Aviv,

Raphael, age 24, is from Ra’anana. On October 7, she was at the Nova Festival in Re’im when Hamas attacked. After being hit by shrapnel, she hid in a small bomb shelter near Kibbutz Be’eri, lying beneath bodies and pretending to be dead.

“I had to step on bodies to get out,” she said in an interview. “It was unbearable.”

“You ask yourself: ‘Why was I saved and not them?’” she said. “Once I made peace with that, I decided to give my dreams a chance. I got a second shot at life. To let fear hold me back would be dishonoring those who didn’t survive. I have to fly with what I’ve been given.”