Eurovision has been accused of permitting vote-rigging after Israel narrowly missed out on winning this year’s fiercely contested finale. Spain 's RTVE and Belgium's VRT have formally raised concerns with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) after Israel’s contestant, Yuval Raphael, finished second and dominated the public vote.

Israel’s Yuval Raphael defied expectations to come in second in the annual Eurovision song contest on Saturday, narrowly losing out to Austria after being buoyed by the popular vote but also drawing points from the juries in 14 countries. “Thank you, Europe! Am Yisrael chai!” Raphael shouted from the stage after her performance.