BASEL – Most contestants at the Eurovision Song Contest are seeking as much publicity as possible.
Israel’s Yuval Raphael is keeping a low profile.
The 24-year-old singer has done few media interviews or appearances during Eurovision week, as Israel’s participation in the pan-continental pop music competition draws protests for a second year.
Raphael performed Thursday in the second semifinal at the contest in the Swiss city of Basel, securing enough votes from viewers to secure a place in Saturday’s final with her anthemic song “New Day Will Rise.” Oddsmakers make Raphael, a survivor of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on a music festival in southern Israel that started the Gaza war, one of the favorites to win the contest.
But some would prefer she was not here. A handful of protesters attempted to disrupt a rehearsal by Raphael on Thursday with “oversized flags and whistles,” contest organizers said. Videos on social media appeared to show a large Palestinian flag being extended in the crowd across several people.
Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR, which is organizing the event, said “security personnel were able to quickly identify those involved and escort them out of the hall.”
Raphael’s semifinal performance passed without disruption.
Israel has competed in Eurovision for more than 50 years and won four times. But last year’s event in Sweden drew large demonstrations calling for Israel to be kicked out of the contest over its conduct in the war against Hamas in Gaza.
The Oct. 7 cross-border attacks by Hamas militants killed 1,200 people, and roughly 250 were taken hostage into Gaza. More than 52,800 people in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to the territory’s health ministry.
About 200 people, many draped in Palestinian flags, protested in central Basel on Wednesday evening, demanding an end to Israel’s military offensive and the country’s expulsion from Eurovision. They marched in silence down a street noisy with music and Eurovision revelry.
Many noted that Russia was banned from Eurovision after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“It should be a happy occasion that Eurovision is finally in Switzerland, but it’s not,” said Lea Kobler, from Zurich. “How can we rightfully exclude Russia but we’re still welcoming Israel?”
Others have criticized hostility toward the Israeli contestant. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN complained to Swiss police about an alleged threatening gesture made toward Raphael by a pro-Palestinian protester during the opening Eurovision parade on Sunday.
German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told parliament on Wednesday that “the boycott calls, the threats, also the verbal attacks on the singer from Israel, who herself only survived Hamas’ mass murder at the Nova music festival because she hid under corpses, are from my point of view an intolerable scandal.”
Last year, Israeli competitor Eden Golan received boos when she performed live at Eurovision. Raphael told the BBC that she expects the same and rehearsed with background noise so she won’t be distracted.
“But we are here to sing and I’m going to sing my heart out for everyone,” she said.
A demonstration in support of Israel and against antisemitism was held in central Basel on Thursday.
Anti-Israel protests in Basel have been much smaller than last year in Malmo. Another pro-Palestinian demonstration is planned for Saturday in downtown Basel, 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the contest venue, St. Jakobshalle arena.
But concern by some Eurovision participants and broadcasters continues.
More than 70 former Eurovision contestants signed a letter calling for Israel to be excluded. Several of the national broadcasters that fund Eurovision, including those of Spain, Ireland and Iceland, have called for a discussion about Israel’s participation.
Swiss singer Nemo, who brought the competition to Switzerland by winning last year, told HuffPost UK that “Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold — peace, unity, and respect for human rights.”
At Wednesday’s protest, Basel resident Domenica Ott held a handmade sign saying “Nemo was right.”
She said the nonbinary singer was “very courageous.”
“If Russia couldn’t participate, why should Israel?” she said.
The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, pointed out that Israel is represented by broadcaster KAN, not the government. It has called on participants to respect Eurovision’s values of “universality, diversity, equality and inclusivity” and its political neutrality.
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Associated Press journalists Hilary Fox and Kwiyeon Ha in Basel and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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