From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Azerbaijan, fronted by a Jewish singer, fails to advance to Eurovision final
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
The first big night of Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, wraps up smoothly, with 10 acts from the first semifinal advancing to Saturday’s grand final.
On Thursday evening, another 16 acts — including Israel’s Yuval Raphael — will take the stage aiming for the last 10 spots in the grand final.
A handful of Palestinian flags could be seen in the audience tonight after Swiss organizers relaxed regulations from past years around permissible flags, although their presence was not strongly felt.
Azerbaijan, whose lead singer, Asaf Mishiyev, is a member of the country’s Mountain Jewish community, did not advance in tonight’s semifinal. Also ending their Eurovision run are Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia and Slovenia. The countries who did advance are Iceland, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Ukraine, Portugal, Norway, San Marino, Albania and the Netherlands.
Thursday’s winning acts will join tonight’s qualifiers plus the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on Saturday to vie for the top prize.
The Times of Israel Community.