ISRAEL HAS OFFICIALLY unveiled its entry song for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, two months ahead of the competition in Basel.

The song, titled New Day Will Rise, was revealed during a special televised event last night in Israel, sung by Israeli performer Yuval Raphael.

Raphael is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre committed by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

As part of the attack, 364 people were killed at an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret.

The massacre was part of a large-scale attack on Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip on 7 October which resulted in the deaths of 1,175 people.

Israel launched bombing campaigns and a ground offensive in Gaza shortly after the attack.

An estimated 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

‘A powerful statement’

The song written by singer-songwriter Keren Peles, who also wrote Israel’s 2024 entry song October Rain (later retitled as Hurricane). 

The song’s music video features a group of young people, including Raphael, gathering outdoors and playing music – seemingly reminicent of the Nova Music Festival.

A line of Hebrew features in the song, referencing a book of poetry from the Old Testament of the Bible.

The line in question says: “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”

Songwriter Keren Peles said the line is “a powerful statement”.

“It doesn’t matter how much fire they aim at us, our water is stronger, our love is stronger, they can’t extinguish us, they can’t burn us — it’s the most important line in the song,” Peles told the Israeli public broadcaster Kan last night.

The lyrics and video of Raphael’s song were approved last week by the European Broadcasting Union, which organises the Eurovision Song Contest and prohibits any political content in the competing songs.

Last year, Israel was forced to revise the lyrics of its initial entrant song, ‘October Rain’ due to perceived references to the 7 October Hamas attack.

After the song lyrics were revised, Israeli singer Eden Golan finished in fifth place in the final, narrowly ahead of Irish entrant Bambie Thug in sixth.

The event was mired in controversy, as several performers from other competing nations  signalled their frustration that the debate around the inclusion of Israel would likely overshadow the world’s largest live music event.

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Basel, Switzerland this May.

Norwegian singer EMMY will represent Ireland with her song ‘Laika Party’.