Eurovision 2025 Has Drawn The Last Tickets To The Finals

It wasn't without scandal.

The second semi-final of the competition ended in Basel. Among its winners is Yuval Raphael from Israel. The country's participation in the contest has again sparked protests - both before it began and on the day of the semi-final, writes Deutsche Welle.

The names of the last 10 finalists became known on Thursday evening, May 15, at the Eurovision Song Contest, which is being held in the Swiss city of Basel. Among them - one of the main favorites of the current contest, the representative of Austria JJ with pop-aria Wasted Love. Israeli Yuval Raphael also made it to the final. She performed the ballad New Day Will Rise. Yuval survived an attack by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7, 2023. She was at the Nova music festival, and more than 300 attendees were killed by Hamas.

Till then, Israel's participation in Eurovision is again fraught with protests over the country's retaliatory military operation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Before the contest, its organizer, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), rejected demands to exclude Israel from Eurovision. Meanwhile, the Basel authorities allowed both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli actions, but they were few on the day of the second semi-final. No incidents occurred during the show. But shortly before the broadcast, during a dress rehearsal with the audience, security guards escorted several activists carrying Palestinian flags out of the hall. Those blew their whistles loudly as Yuval Raphael sang.

Winners and losers of the second semi-final

Besides JJ and Yuval Raphael, Katarsis (Lithuania), Parg (Armenia), Sissal (Denmark), Laura Thorn (Luxembourg), Erika Vikman (Finland), Tautumeitas (Latvia), Miriana Conte (Malta) and Klavdia (Greece) made it to the final. They secured the necessary support from TV viewers. Unlike the Eurovision final, where the votes are summarized from the scores of the national jury and viewers, only the viewers vote in the semi-finals.

As a result, Go-Jo (Australia), Mariam Shengelia (Georgia), Emmy (Ireland), Princ (Serbia), Adonxs (Czech Republic) and Nina Žižić (Montenegro) did not go further. The Eurovision final will take place on Saturday, May 17. On that day, the contest's favorite trio KAJ from Sweden, Ukrainian band Ziferblat and eight other winners of the first semi-final will perform on stage. Representatives of Germany and four other major EBU donors - Great Britain, Spain, Italy and France - as well as the country that won the previous competition - Switzerland - are automatically qualified for the final. Belarus and Russia have been eliminated from Eurovision.

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