Israeli singer Yuval Raphael will soon take the stage at Eurovision 2025, carrying with her not just a song, but a soul-shaking story of survival. This year, she represents more than her nation—she represents the human spirit’s refusal to break in the face of terror.

On October 7th, 2023, Raphael and her friends attended the Nova Music Festival, a celebration of life that became a massacre when Hamas terrorists stormed the site, murdering over 360 innocent people. As the slaughter unfolded, Raphael and her friends fled into a bomb shelter—but it offered no protection. She and others inside were trapped, surrounded by the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and death.

In those terrifying moments, Raphael managed to speak with her father by phone. With trembling voice, she told him what was happening. His urgent advice would end up saving her life: “Play dead. Don’t move.” Moments later, Hamas terrorists entered the shelter and began executing people one by one. Raphael lay motionless, covered by the blood and bodies of those killed around her.

Over the next five hours, the terrorists returned again and again, stepping over corpses, searching for anyone who might still be alive. In between the death visits from Hamas, Raphael kept calling for help—desperately trying to reach Israeli police and security forces. But no one came. At one point, she believed she wouldn’t make it out. “I had given up,” she later recalled. “I thought no one was coming and was resolved that next time they come in I won’t play dead and just die.”

Her survival was nothing short of miraculous. And now, 18 months later, she is preparing to perform “A New Day Will Rise”—a song she wrote that blends grief and resilience, heartbreak and hope. With lyrics that speak to rebirth after trauma, it’s become an anthem not just for Israelis, but for anyone who has endured unimaginable loss.

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Her participation in Eurovision comes amid calls from over 70 former Eurovision participants to ban Israel from the competition, citing the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Yet supporters of Raphael say silencing an artist who survived terrorism is not justice—it’s cruelty masquerading as principle.

For Yuval Raphael, Eurovision isn’t just a stage. It’s a memorial. It’s a defiant act of remembrance. It’s proof that even from beneath the weight of death, a voice can still rise—and sing.