Spanish broadcasters are crying foul over Israel's surprising success at Eurovision 2025, formally requesting that the competition's organizers examine its voting methodology after Yuval Raphael secured a second-place finish despite receiving lukewarm support from judges.
The Spanish Broadcasting System announced it would appeal to the European Broadcasting Union to review the song contest's voting system, with specific focus on audience voting procedures. While professional judges awarded Raphael just 60 points, audience votes catapulted the Israeli performer into second place with an impressive 297 points.
Austria, which won the overall competition, experienced the opposite scenario – dominating the judges' vote but receiving fewer than 200 points from audience members.
Spanish officials, whose contestant finished in 24th place with only 10 audience points, argue that public voting is unduly influenced by political and security situations. They specifically cited Ukraine and Israel as examples of countries engaged in prolonged military conflicts that "profit" from audience sympathy votes.
The European Broadcasting Union has not yet responded to Spain's request, according to local media reports, which also indicate that additional countries are expected to join Spain's appeal for voting reform.
To conclude with Yuval Raphael's own sentiment – Am Yisrael Chai.
