Protestors hold a banner and Palestinian flags as they take part in a demonstration against Israel’s candidate during the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 opening ceremony
Stefan Wermuth / AFP
Israel’s contestant blew kisses to the crowds after one activist spat and made a throat-slitting gesture.
Having survived the October 7th Hamas pogrom at the Nova music festival, Yuval Raphael is now representing her country, Israel, at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with the song “New Day Will Rise.” For many of those who lined the streets upon her arrival in Basel on Sunday, Raphael’s was not a story to be celebrated but one that inspired hatred.
One man among the noisy Palestinian flag-wavers made a throat-slitting gesture and is said also to have spat at members of Israel’s delegation. Israeli broadcaster Kan has filed a complaint to the Swiss police as well as to Eurovision’s organiser, the European Broadcasting Union, “requesting that action be taken to identify the individual.”
But at the opening ceremony itself, Raphael and her team responded to this hatred with grace, blowing kisses and brandishing big smiles.
Israel’s Eurovision representative Yuval Raphael, a Nova massacre survivor, was “welcomed” in Basel by a hostile crowd of pro-Hamas protesters.
One calmer activist criticised Israel for using the contest “as a platform for propaganda,” as if they were not themselves using the song contest (!) to voice their—at best—anti-Israeli hatred.
More than 70 former contestants have demanded that Israel be banned from participating in Eurovision. Such calls have been made on national levels too, including in Spain—no surprise there.
Activists made a similar song and dance at last year’s Eurovision, forcing Israel’s entrant to stay locked in her hotel room other than during performances.
Security efforts have been stepped up this year, too, with 1,300 Swiss police officers on duty and online resilience against expected cyber attacks bolstered.
Separate ongoing Palestine protests in Brussels are also starting to grate on officials—never mind local populations—with Mayor Philippe Close saying he “cannot tolerate the city center being held hostage by protesters who chant pro-Hamas chants, insult passersby, and provoke the police.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
