Eurovision 2025: Bereaved survivor and Arab Israeli singer perform moving duet

On Sunday night, in this second wartime edition of the televised talent contest The Next Star (HaKochav Haba), the winner of which will represent Israel in Eurovision, Daniel Weiss, a survivor of the Hamas massacre, teamed up with an Arab Israeli singer, Valerie Hamaty, for an especially moving rendition of “Hurricane,” the song Eden Golan performed in the international song contest last year.

The song references the over 360 murdered at the Nova festival on October 7, and Golan gave a luminous, dignified performance, despite boos and calls to boycott, finishing second in the audience voting and fifth all-around in 2024. Audiences loved the song, with the video of Golan’s live performance garnering 5.5 million views on YouTube, and her official music video receiving almost 10 million views.

Golan’s version of the song is a tough act to follow, but Hamaty and Weiss, on a night in which the competitors were paired off to perform duets, proved that they were up to the task. Their emotional performance of the song received a score of 95%, the highest of the night, from the judges.

Survivor from Kibbutz Be’eri

Weiss is from Kibbutz Be’eri, and he proved he has not abandoned his kibbutznik ways even though he has been unable to live in his home since the war started as he performed barefoot. Weiss survived the massacre on the kibbutz, while his father, Shmulik, was killed and his mother, Yehudit, was abducted into Gaza and murdered there.

Just this past week, his parents were moved from temporary graves to their final resting place at the kibbutz cemetery, which is now deemed a safe enough location to hold a funeral, and he said that this had given him a feeling of closure. “I feel that now we can raise our glances upwards and look at the beautiful life we are creating here,” he said.

He recalled that he had been in a talent competition that Hamaty also appeared in before the war and that his father, who was present in the audience there, had told him that he had to find a way to perform with her someday. When he realized he would be performing a duet with her on The Next Star, “I got goosebumps,” he said.

Hamaty, an established singer who has taken part in The Next Star in the past, received some online hate following her previous performance this season, from people who feel she should not participate in a competition with Jewish Israelis.

Asked about these reactions by host Rotem Sela, Hamaty said they were a “noisy minority” and that most of the reactions she received were positive. She said she had just received a message from a woman whose daughter was killed at Supernova, and the woman said, “My daughter always admired you and loved you very, very much, and I’m fed up with all this hate.”

She said that when she learned that they would be performing a duet together, she watched his audition tape in which he discussed his parents’ murders and found herself sobbing.

The audience embraced them the moment they began performing the song that is both mournful and hopeful, and which has become a kind of anthem for Israeli youth. Weiss was particularly moving when he sang the line, “Who’s the fool who told you boys don’t cry?” When they harmonized on the words, “I’m still broken from this hurricane,” several of the judges burst into tears.

One of the judges, Keren Peles, who is one of the songwriters of “Hurricane,” said, “My heart is filled with love right now,” adding that she hoped that the two of them would be chosen to perform in Eurovision as a duo.

Other contestants’ lives were also touched by the massacre. Yuval Raphael, another finalist, survived the massacre playing dead in a bomb shelter for hours near the music festival.

Last year’s finalist, Shaul Greenglick, 26, a captain in the reserves who auditioned for the contest in early December 2023 in uniform while on furlough from fighting in Gaza, fell in battle in late December.

Earlier this week, Slovenia urged the European Broadcasting Union to ban Israel from the competition because of the war in Gaza, but no decision has yet been made on this matter.

Eurovision's importance 

Eurovision is an important part of Israel’s popular culture. It was one of the first international arenas in which Israel excelled. Eurovision was started in the wake of World War II to encourage peaceful competition among nations and has blossomed into a glittery extravaganza, with millions around the world watching it on television and voting for the winner.

Israel began taking part in Eurovision in 1973 since it would not have been welcomed in a Middle Eastern regional song contest. It took home the top prize in 1978 and 1979 with wins for Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta for the song “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” and Milk and Honey for “Hallelujah,” respectively, and again in 1998 with Dana International’s “Diva.”

While for decades the top prize eluded Israel, Israelis continued to be devoted Eurovision fans, cheering on Israeli contestants. Finally, in 2018, Netta Barzilai became Israel’s fourth Eurovision winner with her rousing rendition of “Toy,” a self-empowerment anthem. The 2019 competition was held in Tel Aviv.

Whether Hamaty and Weiss indeed will represent Israel remains to be seen, but the 2025 Eurovision will be held in May in Basel, Switzerland.