Just before the Eurovision final on Saturday night, Yuval Raphael, Israel’s contestant in the song competition, spoke with superstar Gal Gadot, who made a video call with her from the US to offer encouragement ahead of the competition.
“You’re so stunning, sweetheart!” Gadot said, to which Raphael said, “Me? You!” Gadot advised Raphael to enjoy the rest of the experience, saying, “Darling, listen, you’ve already won, you know you’ve already won! Now it’s just about enjoying it.”
Speaking in Hebrew, Gadot added: “Celebrate your creation, it’s a creation of love and of so much light.”
Speaking about “New Day Will Rise,” the song by Keren Peles about overcoming trauma and finding your way back to love that Raphael will sing, she said, “The song is so moving and it fits you perfectly. It’s really you. Go up on that stage, enjoy it, you’ve already won! Don’t listen to all the noise, it’s just a few people making a lot of it. You are a great light.”
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
Raphael, who survived the Nova massacre on October 7, responded: “It’s a crazy experience. You prepare yourself and then you get here and it’s a thousand times more than you imagined. I’m having fun and enjoying it. I love being on stage. There’s always pressure before going up—heartbeat and everything—but once I’m up there, it all calms down.”
Gadot, who has some experience of suddenly being in the spotlight following her role as Wonder Woman, said, “Use that excitement—that ‘before’ feeling—it just means you’re alive and electricity is flowing through you. Break out with all that energy and amaze everyone like only you know how.”
Raphael will perform fourth in the final, and she told Gadot, “They say it lowers our chances of winning, because it’s so early on, but voting opens from the start, and it’s really important everyone knows that. And it’s really up to us. If we all vote and all rally around this, it’s totally in our hands. And may they vote, amen. May everyone vote for Israel.”
Following in the footsteps of Eden Golan
The oddsmakers currently have Raphael in seventh place, and she is expected to do better in the audience voting than with the national juries.
who represented Israel last time with “Hurricane,” another emotional tune by Keren Peles, came in second in the audience voting, and placed fifth overall, despite facing booing and other harassment in the competition in Malmö, Sweden. Golan will announce the votes of Israel’s national jury at the Eurovision final.
After the call ended, Raphael said: “Oh my God, I just talked to Wonder Woman, basically. I’m this close to fainting.”