Voters turned out in droves for Israel at Eurovision, but the juries… not so much
A major win in 2nd place: Yuval Raphael won the popular vote in 12 countries, finishing higher than Eden Golan last year; gap between juries, public is not uncommon at song contest
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Israel’s Yuval Raphael ran away with the public vote at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night, getting the highest support possible from 12 participating countries and in the aggregate “rest of the world” tally.
Her song’s relatively low placing in the jury vote, getting just 60 points and tying with Ukraine for 14th place, meant Israel ultimately finished in second overall, behind Austria, which won the jury vote and came fourth with the public to take the win.
Israel had also won Thursday’s second semifinal, which is determined solely by public vote. The detailed results were only released following the grand final.
Pro-Israel viewers watching the proceedings accused the juries — made up of music experts in each of the 37 countries — of deliberately torpedoing Israel’s song, while anti-Israel fans of the Eurovision suggested the televote was rigged by a Zionist conspiracy. The truth, as usual, is likely somewhere in the middle.
While this year Israel won the televote with 297 points, it actually received more overall votes from the public last year, when Eden Golan finished second in the public vote with 323 points and fifth overall. That’s because this year the public votes were spread out over a larger number of acts, instead of concentrated on the top five.
Israel got the highest maximum votes from the public voters in Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, as well as the “rest of the world” vote, which is made up of all voters from non-Eurovision countries combined together and assigned the weight of one country. It also got 10 points, the second-highest possible, from public voters in Cyprus, Czechia, Finland, Ireland, Norway and San Marino.
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— כאן (@kann) May 17, 2025
Such a huge gap between the public vote winner and the jury vote winner is not uncommon at the Eurovision, and certainly doesn’t only apply to Israel. The results in general on Saturday night were a surprise to many viewers, with heavy favorite Sweden finishing only third in the public vote and fourth overall. France, which had been predicted to finish third, ultimately finished seventh overall and 14th in the popular vote.
Some elements of the voting did play out in predictable Eurovision fashion, like Cyprus handing its 12 jury points to Greece, and the UK’s act receiving the dreaded zero points from the entire televote.
If one thing was proven at the 2025 Eurovision, it’s that the online chatter ahead of the competition is mostly dominated by a fringe group of those who are obsessed with the contest but often doesn’t reflect the actual result of the show watched by more than 100 million people.
That isn’t to say that all Eurovision viewers love Israel. It’s clear that there was a concerted effort among pro-Israel supporters to drum up votes from those who don’t traditionally watch the show. The loud anti-Israel hate focused on Raphael also likely fueled some voters unhappy with such sentiments in Europe. And perhaps some people just really liked the song.
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יובל רפאל – New Day Will Rise pic.twitter.com/0GzY8oem45— כאן (@kann) May 17, 2025
With 26 finalists in Saturday night’s show, it is also much easier for the public to rally around an artist it likes than to vote against one that it doesn’t. Without a clear alternate pick for those voters who were angered by Israel’s participation, their voice was unlikely to make a major impact.
The same way we can’t prove what motivated the public voters, we can’t say with any certainty what was driving the jury votes. Raphael had neither the best nor worst vocals of the night, and the song, while emotional, was not a huge standout among the 37 entrants; indeed, the initial Israeli reaction when the song was rolled out was very mixed.
Israel only received the top jury points from one country, Azerbaijan, and didn’t get 10 or eight points from any nation. It did, however, receive seven jury points from France and, surprisingly, Ireland, one of the strongest critics of the Jewish state, whose public broadcaster had called for Israel to be barred from the contest.
Israel did not receive a single jury point from 22 of the countries taking part in this year’s Eurovision. Then again, Ukraine didn’t receive any jury points from 20 of the participating countries, and Estonia, a big public favorite, was snubbed by 15 countries’ juries. The public and the jury votes often don’t line up — this year Switzerland came second overall in the jury vote with 214 points, and dead last in the public vote with 0 points.
Israel’s jury gave its top score, 12 points, to Greece, 10 points to Germany and eight points to Malta. Public voters in Israel gave their highest points to Ukraine, then Estonia, followed by Austria and then Greece.
When the Eurovision began in 1956, there were only seven competing countries and the winner was determined solely by a jury. It wasn’t until 1998 that the votes switched to being largely by the public, and that year Israel’s Dana International won with “Diva.” Then in 2009, the juries were brought back and the voting has since been determined in a 50/50 split.
Ever since then, Eurovision fans have hotly debated how the winner should be determined, generally vacillating depending on how the results turned out. Many were angry last year when Croatia’s Baby Lasagna was denied the win despite being the public favorite, similarly to 2023, when many wanted Finland’s Kaarija, the public’s winner, to take the crown. This year, many Eurovision diehards are breathing a sigh of relief that the contest isn’t solely based on the televote.
But with all the talk of efforts to bar Israel from participating in Eurovision, it’s the Israeli government itself that could end the Jewish state’s 52-year run in the competition. Elements in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party are trying to push through legislation that would shutter Israel’s public broadcaster, a move that would end Israel’s membership in the European Broadcasting Union and therefore its eligibility for the contest.
The Times of Israel Community.