They will compete against the countries that advanced during Tuesday night’s semi-final, including Albania, Estonia, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Sweden, Ukraine.
Raphael’s moving ballad “New Day Will Rise” was written by Keren Peles, the songwriter and composer behind Israel’s 2024 Eurovision song “Hurricane.”
The Israeli singer, who survived the Nova festival on October 7 by pretending to be dead whilst hiding in a bomb shelter, was met with some boos during the Eurovision opening ceremony on Sunday but has otherwise received widespread support from Eurovision audiences. The relatively peaceful response to Israel’s delegate marks a distinct contrast from last year’s competition, when thousands of anti-Israel protesters demonstrated in Malmö, Sweden against Israeli singer Eden Golan’s participation.
Raphael, who has been among the favourites to qualify for the grand final, will also compete on Saturday against British pop group Remember Monday, who are representing the UK in this year’s contest with their song ‘What the Hell Just Happened?’.
