Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday with Yuval Raphael, Israel's representative to the 2025 Eurovision, and commended her on winning second place in the competition.

"You sound excellent, and you sounded excellent there. You have brought so much honor and pride to our country. After what you went through, fighting for your life in a shelter, and now representing all of our lives. Those abhorrent murderers – they are the ones in shelters now, and we will complete the job," the Prime Minister stated.

He continued: "What you did there, Yuval, you lifted up Israel's profile among the nations, and when you stood there, with your hands, and said 'Am Yisrael chai' – it shook all of our hearts. Congratulations, you are marvelous."

Raphael replied: "Thank you. All I wanted was to bring honor to this country. To bring them a second, a moment of peace in all the turmoil that is happening here. I very much hope that someone got a small moment of peace from this. To me, the most important thing in the world was to bring as much honor as I could. The most important thing is that our hostages will return home and be here with us, to be happy with us and to recover."

Prime Minister Netanyahu responded, "We are working very hard on this, and you have added much strength. I will tell you something else – you were the true winner there. Statistically, this is the simple truth. You entered the hearts of a huge public in Europe. You did something that is important from all possible aspects, and I think you will remember it, and we will remember it, for many years. In effect, for the rest of your life, and I'm sure you will be remembered even beyond that. This is no small thing. Such an outstanding achievement at the age of 24. Congratulations."