Jerusalem, 21 May, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday spoke with Yuval Raphael, Israel’s representative to the 2025 Eurovision, and commended her on winning second place in the completion. Netanyahu told Raphael, a survivor of the October 7 Nova Festival massacre, that she, “brought so much honor and pride to our country.”
“After what you went through, fighting for your life in a shelter, and now representing all of our lives,” he added. “Those abhorrent murderers – they are the ones in shelters now, and we will complete the job. What you did there Yuval, you lifted up Israel’s profile among the nations, and when you stood there, with your hands, and said ‘Am Yisrael chai’ – it shook all of our hearts. Congratulations, you are marvelous.”
Raphael survived by hiding under the bodies of innocent people who were brutally gunned down by Hamas terrorists.
“All I wanted was to bring honor to this country,” said Raphael. “To bring them a second, a moment of peace in all the turmoil that is happening here. I very much hope that someone got a small moment of peace from this. To me, the most important thing in the world was to bring as much honor as I could. The most important thing is that our hostages will return home and be here with us, to be happy with us and to recover.”