Music Israel presents ESC song by survivor of the Nova Festival
Israel has unveiled the song with which candidate Yuval Raphael will compete at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel in May. The song "New Day Will Rise" is about overcoming painful experiences.
09.03.2025, 23:10
SDA
One and a half years ago, 24-year-old Raphael was partying with friends at the Nova music festival on the edge of the Gaza Strip when the Islamist terrorist attack took place. She survived by hiding in a shelter for hours among the corpses of other young people. The terrorists killed 364 participants of the festival and abducted dozens from the party to the Gaza Strip.
Multilingual lyrics
There are subtle allusions to the events of October 7 in the ESC song. The video shows young people walking through a green landscape. Red anemones can be seen in it - the flower symbolizes the Israeli south.
Raphael, who lived in Switzerland as a child, sings in English, French and Hebrew. "A new day will dawn, life will go on," the song says. And in a quote from the biblical Song of Songs: "Mighty waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers wash it away."
At the last ESC, critics had called for Israel to be excluded due to the actions of the Israeli army in the Gaza war. The ESC organizers decided against such a step. As a result, Israeli singer Eden Golan was met with fierce hostility and booing during her ESC performance in Malmö, Sweden, in 2024. She nevertheless came fifth. If only the TV audience had voted, she would have come second. The result also includes jury votes.
