Israel’s contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 has become a hot topic – not only for its performance, but also for the record-high number of votes from the audience. Now, suspicions are growing that organized campaigns may have influenced the result.
According to the Schibsted newspaper SvD, both experts and Eurovision fans have reacted to Israel receiving so many votes from TV viewers. Israel’s representative Yuval Raphael won the public vote by a large margin, but Austria took home the final victory thanks to higher scores from the jury groups.
As in Malmö last year, Israel’s entry was controversial even before the final, mainly because of the ongoing war in Gaza.
It is worth noting that Yuval Raphael survived the Hamas attack at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and she says that the experience has shaped her and her entry, “New Day Will Rise”, which she believes carries a strong message of hope and reconstruction.
Congratulations @YuvalRaphael_IL #Eurovision2025 pic.twitter.com/Y463NujiDf
— Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne) May 18, 2025
EBU will investigate
According to SvD, there are suspicions of coordinated efforts on platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, and X, where users have shared instructions on how to vote from different countries and use VPN services to circumvent geographical restrictions.
Similar patterns have been seen in previous years, but this year’s mobilization is described as unusually extensive. There have also been reports of automated bots and paid advertisements targeting the Eurovision audience.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the contest, has confirmed that it is following up on the information and analyzing voting patterns. In a statement, the EBU says it has advanced systems to detect and stop cheating, but that it always reviews its procedures after the contest.