Israel was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "New Day Will Rise", written by Keren Peles and performed by Yuval Raphael. The Israeli participating broadcaster, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), selected Raphael as its representative through the show , in collaboration with commercial broadcaster Keshet and , while the song "New Day Will Rise" was chosen internally. As with the previous year, Israel's participation was the subject of controversy due to the Gaza war.
Israel was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 15 May 2025. Performing during the show in position 14, Israel was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 17 May. It was later revealed that Israel placed first out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 203 points. In the final, Israel performed in position 4 and placed second out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 357 points.
Background
Prior to the 2025 contest, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) until 2017, and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) since 2018, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Israel forty-six times since the IBA's first entry in . They had won the contest on four occasions: in with the song "" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in with the song "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey, in with the song "" by Dana International, and in with the song "Toy" by Netta. Since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, they had, to this point, managed to qualify to the final 13 times, achieving, besides its 2018 victory, five top ten results, most recently in with "Hurricane" by Eden Golan placing fifth.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Kan selects an entry to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Kan confirmed its intention to participate in the 2025 contest on 31 May 2024, announcing on 23 July that its representative would continue to be selected through the reality singing competition (Rising Star).
Before Eurovision HaKokhav HaBa L'Eirovizion The artist who would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was selected through the reality singing competition (), produced by and Keshet Media Group, and broadcast on Keshet 12 as well as online via mako.co.il. The shows took place at the in Neve Ilan, and were hosted by Assi Azar and Rotem Sela. The judging panel for the competition was composed of Assaf Amdursky, Keren Peles, Shiri Maimon (who represented ), Ran Danker, Itay Levi and Eden Hason. Nasrin Kadri and joined as guest judges.
Preliminary casting rounds began in late July 2024 and ended in early October. Qualifiers from the preliminary casting phase proceeded to the auditions proper, which began filming on 10 October.
Auditions Candidates were required to get a score of at least 70% of the votes from the judges and the studio audience in order to advance. +Audition 110 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Nati Livian"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"93%Advanced2Kler"Love on the Brain"96%Advanced3Renana Boaziza""82%Advanced4Tali Kuper"Lose Control"66%Eliminated5Ido Malka""94%Advanced6Daniel Wais""97%Advanced +Audition 216 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Perfylove Mongoza"Drivers License"92%Advanced2Ilay Katz""86%Advanced3Nelly Mira Rubin"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"62%Eliminated4Hili Goren""89%Advanced5Ronen Binder"Careless Whisper"78%Advanced6Alma Maimon de Razon"October Sky"94%Advanced +Audition 317 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Aviad Klein"When We Were Young"96%Advanced2Amit Sade"Scars to Your Beautiful"96%Advanced3Mika Veltman"Lose Control"52%Eliminated4Tamir Vaknin""81%Advanced5Red Band and "Human"82%Advanced +Audition 419 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Dolev Mendelbaum"Jealous"85%Advanced2Ester Guedj""86%Advanced3Nir Abdu""80%Advanced4Liel Yeshaya""42%Eliminated5Yuval Raphael"Anyone"98%Advanced +Audition 523 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Elyakir Keren""95%Advanced2Linoy Bismuth""57%Eliminated3Harel Cohen"Lose Control"87%Advanced 4Ori Saban""86%Advanced5Ofir Harush"Out Here on My Own"74%Advanced6Valerie Hamaty""93%Advanced +Audition 624 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Noam Chen"Don't Look Back in Anger"88%Advanced2Niv Dagan"When I Was Your Man"86%Advanced3Noa Lasri""84%Advanced 4Mandi Horvitz"Bridge Over Troubled Water"64%Eliminated5Ester Aweke"No One"84%Advanced6Yuval Gold""96%Advanced +Audition 726 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Debbi James"Ain't Nobody"70%Advanced2Udi Schneider"Bad Romance"88%Advanced3Roy Elbaz""77%Advanced 4Yasmin Shimoni"Hopelessly Devoted to You"64%Eliminated5Natalie Zafar""94%Advanced +Audition 830 November 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Noa Fineman"Arcade"72%Advanced2Ido Amdor"Stone Cold"91%Advanced3Shira Knopp""64%Saved4Roy Berger"Cosmic Girl"87%Advanced5Natan Zarka""69%Eliminated6Hamsa""74%Advanced +Audition 91 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Eliad Peretz""86%Advanced2Itay Paz"Knocking on Heaven's Door"79%Advanced3Odel Partush""57%Eliminated4Noa Danay"Russian Roulette"74%Advanced5Shahaf Belash""82%Advanced6Noam Levy""89%Advanced +Audition 103 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Orel Dahari""70%Advanced2Milly Dor"Wildflower"56%Eliminated3Harel Koresh""81%Advanced4Avichai Malka""74%Advanced5Lia Gerber"Cuz I Love You"70%Advanced6Benny Elbaz""78%Withdrew +Audition 117 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Hodaya Tarkin""83%Advanced2Leshem Sharvit""84%Advanced3Hadas Cohen"Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You"84%Advanced4Nadav Cohen""60%Eliminated5Hili Meshayev"One Night Only"70%Advanced6Ron Buchnik""95%Advanced +Audition 128 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Agam David Chai"As the World Caves In"91%Advanced2Ben Ganon""80%Advanced3Tanya Lauren"Another Love"48%Eliminated4Ran Peretz""81%Advanced5Ofir Levy""82%Advanced6Roni Jorno""90%Advanced +Audition 1310 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Ilay Avidani "Amsterdam"85%Advanced2Anna Timofei"My Heart Will Go On"48%Eliminated3Siel Zeituna"Stone Cold"76%Advanced4Yarden Azulay""71%Advanced5Ohav Givati""74%Advanced6Corinne Gamliel""93%Advanced +Audition 1411 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1David Abbo""80%Advanced2Achinoam Moyal""82%Advanced3Roy Cohen""57%Eliminated4Liel Eldadi""74%Advanced5Daniel Malhi""78%Advanced6Avichai Ohana""91%Advanced
Shortlisting round From the 66 advanced candidates, the judges picked 21 to proceed in a non-televised shortlisting round. Those candidates were: Kler, Yuval Raphael, Ori Saban, Ido Malka, Natalie Zafar, Renana Boaziza, Daniel Wais, Yuval Gold, Udi Schneider, Amit Sade, Alma Maimon de Razon, Dolev Mendelbaum, Valerie Hamaty, Hamsa, Nati Livian, Itay Paz, Perfylove Mongoza, Aviad Klein, Ilay Avidani, Shira Knopp, and Red Band and Moran Aharoni.
Top 21 round In the top 21 round, the votes of the judges and an audience determine one or two contestants to be eliminated from each show. In each of the first three shows, the artist to be eliminated was the one getting the lowest overall score. In the fourth and fifth shows, the artists were coupled to perform duets, with the eliminee selected between the lowest scoring duo in the fifth show. In the sixth, seventh, fifteenth and sixteenth shows, the artists were paired in duels, with the winners directly qualifying to the next round; the judges then selected one or two eliminee per show among the others. In the eighth, ninth and tenth shows, each contestant performed a duet with a surprise guest artist. The lowest scoring contestant across both the eleventh and twelfth shows combined was eliminated. In the thirteenth and fourteenth shows, the judges decided which of the bottom two scoring contestants to be eliminated. +Top 21 roundShow 114 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Kler"Valerie"84%Advanced2Yuval Raphael"All I Ask"95%Advanced3Ori Saban""71%Advanced4Ido Malka"This Love"84%Advanced5Natalie Zafar""78%Advanced6Renana Boaziza""46%Eliminated7Daniel Wais"Imagine"94%Advanced +Top 21 roundShow 215 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Yuval Gold"Beautiful Things"83%Advanced2Amit Sade"Unfaithful"70%Advanced3Udi Schneider""62%Advanced4Alma Maimon de Razon"Not Going Anywhere"87%Advanced5Hamsa""53%Eliminated6Dolev Mendelbaum"Lovely"87%Advanced7Valerie Hamaty""93%Advanced +Top 21 roundShow 317 December 2024ArtistSongJury votesScoreResult1Nati Livian"Someone You Loved"77%Advanced2Perfylove Mongoza"Lift Me Up"84%Advanced3Itay Paz""85%Advanced4Aviad Klein"Bruises"77%Advanced5Shira Knopp"Eleanor Rigby"70%Eliminated6Ilay Avidani"If I Ain't Got You"76%Advanced7Red Band and "It's So Hard"93%Advanced +Top 18 roundShow 421 December 2024 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Kler "Stay" 94%Advanced Nati Livian Advanced 2 Udi Schneider "" 68% Advanced Yuval Gold Advanced 3 Red Band and "I See Red" 91% Advanced Amit Sade Advanced 4 Ori Saban "" 63% Eliminated Ilay Avidani Saved 5 Valerie Hamaty "Hurricane" 95% Advanced Daniel Wais Advanced +Top 18 roundShow 522 December 2024 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Alma Maimon de Razon "Please Please Please" 62% Saved Dolev Mendelbaum Saved 2 Perfylove Mongoza "Can't Help Falling in Love" 74% Advanced Itay Paz Advanced 3 Natalie Zafar "You Are the Reason" 84% Advanced Aviad Klein Advanced 4 Yuval Raphael "Die with a Smile" 83% Advanced Ido Malka Advanced + Top 17 roundShow 626 December 2024 Duel Artist Song Jury votes Score Result I 1 Dolev Mendelbaum "That's Life" 92% Advanced 2 Ilay Avidani "" 84% Saved II 3 Kler "Hurt" 72% Eliminated 4 Ido Malka "" 77% Advanced III 5 Nati Livian "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" 76% Advanced 6 Perfylove Mongoza "Out Here on My Own" 45% Eliminated 7 Itay Paz "" 58% Advanced IV 8 Yuval Raphael "" 94% Saved 9 Daniel Wais "" 95% Advanced + Top 17 roundShow 728 December 2024 Duel Artist Song Jury votes Score Result I 1 Natalie Zafar "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 85% Saved 2 Udi Schneider "" 91% Advanced II 3 Red Band and "One" 67% Saved 4 Valerie Hamaty "Desert Rose" 74% Advanced III 5 Amit Sade "" 71% Advanced 6 Aviad Klein "Iris" 56% Eliminated IV 7 Alma Maimon de Razon "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 55% Saved 8 Yuval Gold "" 90% Advanced + Top 14 roundShow 829 December 2024 Artist Guest artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Yuval Raphael Eden Golan "Feeling Good" 86% Advanced 2 Dolev Mendelbaum Liran Danino "" 82% Advanced 3 Itay Paz Roni Daloomi "" 62% Eliminated 4 Udi Schneider Arik Sinai "" 72% Advanced 5 Yuval Gold Sheri and Adar Gold "" 90% Advanced + Top 14 roundShow 931 December 2024 Artist Guest artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Nati Livian Danny Robas "" 86% Advanced 2 Ido Malka "" 62% Advanced 3 Daniel Wais Miri Mesika "" 81% Advanced 4 Ilay Avidani Eliad Nachum "Grenade" 52% Eliminated 5 Valerie Hamaty Eden Hason "" 90% Advanced + Top 14 roundShow 102 January 2025 Artist Guest artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Alma Maimon de Razon and "" 96% Advanced 2 Natalie Zafar "" 60% Eliminated 3 Amit Sade Or Cohen "" 70% Advanced 4 Red Band and Shiri Maimon "Chandelier" 75% Advanced + Top 11 roundShow 11–124–5 January 2025 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Dolev Mendelbaum "Beggin'" 84% Advanced 2 Daniel Wais "Fix You" 80% Advanced 3 Alma Maimon de Razon "Umbrella" 50% Eliminated 4 Ido Malka "" 97% Advanced 5 Valerie Hamaty "Unicorn" 88% Advanced 6 Nati Livian "Mirrors" 57% Advanced 7 Yuval Raphael "" 94% Advanced 8 Udi Schneider "" 62% Advanced 9 Amit Sade "Wings" 68% Advanced 10 Yuval Gold "Love Runs Out" 57% Advanced 11 Red Band and "We Parted Ways" 89% Advanced