Israel pipped at the post in thrilling Eurovision vote
The UK gave its top public vote of 12 points to Israel during the grand final, but the British jury awarded no points to Yuval Raphael’s New Day Will Rise
Israeli singer Yuval Raphael finished as the runner-up in Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest, pipped at the post by Austria’s JJ’s emotional song Wasted Love.
The UK’s girl group trio Remember Monday finished in 19th place after their performance of What The Hell Just Happened?, despite getting nothing from the public vote.
They scored 88 points from the national music industry juries and fared slightly worse than Olly Alexander who came 18th in Malmo in 2024.
In the centre of the city there were clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police, and three officers were injured, according to the force.
The UK gave its top public vote of 12 points to Israel during the grand final, but the British jury awarded no points to Raphael’s New Day Will Rise as Israel finished with 357 points to Austria’s 436 points.
October 7 survivor Raphael was left “shaken and upset” after pro-Palestinian protesters rushed towards a barrier when she was on stage on Saturday night, her team said.
A spokesman for Israeli broadcaster Kan said the protesters “were blocked by security officials” and their delegation “needed to move location” for 15 minutes.
Swiss police confirmed the two people were handed over to them and that they have now been released, while organisers Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR released a statement saying that a crew member was hit with paint but is “fine”.
Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, said its supporters “did attempt to enter the stage, and some cornstarch-based powder paint appears to have got onto both the action taker and a member of staff in the ensuing kerfuffle” but denied it was “thrown”.
A spokesperson for the group said David Curry, 22, from Manchester, and Meaghan Leon, 27, from London, had been detained and “released”.
Favourites Sweden, represented by Kaj, placed fourth with sauna song Bara Bada Bastu, just behind Estonia’s Tommy Cash with Italian parody Espresso Macchiato which came third.
About 800 pro-Palestinian protests demonstrated against Israel’s inclusion near a free concert in the centre of Basel shortly after 7pm on Saturday, and a small group nearby protested with Israeli flags.
Later the group advocating for Israel to be removed from the singing competition moved across Basel towards the Eurovision Village, where they were met by a significant police presence and tear gas was used.
Basel police said in a statement that during identity checks on about 400 people, a group “threw firecrackers at the emergency services, injuring three police officers who were taken to hospital with suspected blast trauma”.
A protester was also treated by ambulance workers, the force said.
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