Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel
Member station	Kan Former members 1973–2017: IBA
National selection events	Internal selection 1973–1977 1988 (artist) 1990 1998–2000 2002—2004 (artist) 2007-2010 (artist) 2012 2014 (artist) 2015 (song) 2017–2019 (song) 2021 (artist) National final Israel Song Festival 1978–1979 Kdam Eurovision 1981–1983 1985–1987 1988 (song) 1989 1991–1993 1995–1996 2001 2002—2004 (song) 2005–2006 2007–2010 (song) 2011 2013 2014 (song) HaKokhav HaBa 2015 (artist) 2016 2017–2020 (artist) HaShir HaBa L'Eurovizion 2020–2021 (song) The X Factor Israel 2022
Participation summary
Appearances	43 (37 finals)
Host	1979, 1999, 2019
First appearance	1973
Highest placement	1st: 1978, 1979, 1998, 2018
External links
Kan page
Israel's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 43 times since making its debut in 1973. Israel was able to enter the contest as the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is responsible for the event. Israel has won the contest four times, and has hosted the contest in Jerusalem twice in 1979 and 1999. Israel hosted the contest for the third time in Tel Aviv in 2019.

Israel's first appearance at the contest in 1973 was successful, with Ilanit finishing fourth. Israel then achieved victories in 1978 and 1979, with wins for Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi", and Milk and Honey, with "Hallelujah". In 1980, the IBA declined to host the contest^[1] for the second successive year for financial reasons, and as the date for the contest in The Hague conflicted with Yom Hazikaron – Israeli Memorial Day – Israel did not participate. This is the only time that the winning country did not compete the following year. The country's best results in the 1980s were the second-place finishes for Avi Toledano in 1982 and Ofra Haza in 1983. Former winner Izhar Cohen returned to place fifth in 1985, before Duo Datz finished third in 1991. Israel achieved its third victory in 1998, with Dana International and "Diva". Eden then finished fifth in 1999. As of 2021, Israel has the record for most participations and most wins in the contest without ever coming last, but it has placed second to last in the final three times, in 1986, 1993 and 2006, and got nul points from the juries in 2019.

Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Israel has failed to reach the final six times. In 2005, Shiri Maimon gave the country its tenth top five result, finishing fourth. Having failed to qualify for the final for four consecutive years (2011–14), Israel reached the final for the first time in five years, with Nadav Guedj finishing ninth in 2015, and the country has participated in the final every year since. Israel's fourth victory came when Netta won the 2018 contest in Lisbon, with the song "Toy".

History[]

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Victories[]

To date there have been four Israeli victories in the contest. Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta won in Paris in 1978 with the uptempo A-Ba-Ni-Bi. On home ground in Jerusalem the following year, Israel won again, this time with the anthemic Hallelujah performed by Milk and Honey. Unusually, Israel did not defend the title in 1980^[1] (see below). The third victory came almost 20 years later in Birmingham in 1998. Singer Dana International took top honours with the song Diva, setting off widespread celebrations in Israel. Twenty years later, Israel earned their fourth victory at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. The song was "Toy" by Netta Barzilai, which earned Israel their highest-ever score of 529 points.

Other performances[]

Israel's earliest selections were picked by the Israel Broadcasting Authority. The first singer to represent the country in 1973 was Ilanit, who finished 4th. In 1972, while Ilanit was in Germany recording as part of the duo Ilan and Ilanit with her partner , the duo received an offer to represent Germany in that year's Eurovision Song Contest. While considering the proposal, the duo noticed that Israel was eligible to participate and approached the IBA with a proposal that Ilanit would represent Israel. However, by the time the IBA contacted the European Broadcasting Union, the registration period was over and instead Ilanit was promised to represent Israel in 1973.^[2][3] Criticism increased after she was sent again four years later, leading to a rule that the winner of the already established Hebrew Song and Chorus Festival would also represent Israel at the contest. The Eurovision Song Contest winners of 1978 and 1979 were selected by this method. From 1981 the selection process was handled by the Kdam Eurovision with the exceptions of 1990, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002–2004, 2006–2007 and 2010 where the selections were again picked by the IBA.

After winning the contest in 1978 and 1979, the IBA was financially and logistically unable to organise the event for the second consecutive year. The organization of the festival was subsequently handed over to the Netherlands who finally agreed to stage it. Because much time had already passed, it was difficult to find a suitable date for the Song Contest. The date chosen coincided with a memorial day in Israel, and the country was forced to withdraw. This made Israel the only country to date unable to defend its title. The 1980 Hebrew Song and Chorus Festival therefore did not double as a national final that year unlike the last two years, and the winning song "Pizmon Chozer" by the band The Brothers & the Sisters was never given the chance to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1984 Israel once again refrained from participating due to the same date conflict.

Apart from its victories, Israel's entries have had a mixed reception at the contest. Avi Toledano (1982) and Ofra Haza (1983) scored well with big revivalist numbers, but the all-singing, all-dancing style became less popular later in the decade and Israel's 1986 entry, Yavo Yom by Moti Giladi & Sarai Tzuriel, came in 19th, the country's worst showing yet.

In 1987 Israel finished 8th with Shir Habatlanim by the satiric duo Lazy Bums. Due to its satiric nature, it prompted then Israeli Minister of Culture, Yitzhak Navon, to threaten to resign, if the song went on to represent Israel on the night of the contest. However, he didn't.

In 1990 Rita's sensuous ballad was not well received, but in 1991, Orna and Moshe Datz finished third, Israel's best result since 1983. Israel's third victory occurred in 1998, when Dana International won the crown with her song "Diva." Israel also had a 5th-place finish by Eden when it hosted the 1999 contest. However, Ping-Pong's disco effort in 2000 failed badly, though the group was noted for their largely optimistic lyrics and message of reconciliation and peace in Western Asia. They went as far as waving Syrian flags at the end of their performance, angering some Israelis.

In 2004 David D'Or came in 11th in the semifinal with the song "Leha'amin" (להאמין), leaving Israel out of the finals for the first time since 1997. Shiri Maymon's performance in Kyiv in 2005 brought Israel back to the top five, and ensured a place in the Athens 2006 final. In 2006, Israel was represented by singer Eddie Butler, who had finished 5th as part of Eden in 1999; however, his performance of the song "Together We Are One" finished 23rd, with just four points.

IBA's Eurovision committee chose the band Teapacks to represent Israel in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final in Helsinki. Their humorous entry "Push the Button" did not fare well, finishing in 24th place out of a semifinal field of 28 and failing to reach the final. Israel had to compete in the semi-final in Belgrade 2008, from which it passed on to the final; Boaz finished ninth. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, an Arab citizen of Israel represented the country for the first time, as Mira Awad performed along with Jewish-Israeli singer Noa in Moscow. Israel was represented in 2010 by Harel Skaat, who came in 14th in the final.

Israel's participations from 2011 to 2014 were less successful, as former Eurovision winner Dana International in Düsseldorf, the band Izabo in Baku, Moran Mazor in Malmö and Mei Finegold in Copenhagen, all failed to qualify for the final. However, 16-year-old Nadav Guedj qualified with "Golden Boy" in 2015, the first Israeli song without a Hebrew lyric. Prior to their fourth win, they also managed to qualify in 2016 with Hovi Star and "Made of Stars" (which finished 14th) and in 2017 with Imri Ziv and "I Feel Alive" (which finished 23rd, Israel's lowest placing in a Eurovision final since 2006). In 2019 as host country with Kobi Marimi and his song "Home", Israel was pre-qualified for the final, however, they eventually finished in 23rd place, making it the fourth time since 2015 that the host country ranked in the bottom five.

In early 2020, it was announced that the 2020 season of HaKokhav HaBa would be the last time it would be used to select the Israeli entrant, with a separate national final to select the winning artist's Eurovision entry. Eden Alene, selected via HaKokhav HaBa in 2020 – with the entry "Feker Libi" chosen via a separate national final – was selected to represent Israel again in 2021 following the cancellation of the 2020 contest, and a new national final was held to select her entry for 2021. "Set Me Free" was chosen as the entry, which went on to finish in 17th place in the final. The song notably includes a B6 whistle note, the highest note in the history of the contest.

For the 2022 contest, the fourth season of The X Factor Israel was used to determine the 2022 entry, which was later revealed to be Michael Ben David with "I.M".^[4]

Participation overview[]

Table key

1	Winner
2	Second place
3	Third place
X	Entry selected but did not compete
†	Upcoming

Year	Entrant	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1973	Ilanit	"Ey Sham" (אי שם)	Hebrew	4	97	No semi-finals
1974	Poogy	"Natati La Khayay" (נתתי לה חיי)	Hebrew	7	11
1975	Shlomo Artzi	"At Va'Ani" (את ואני)	Hebrew	11	40
1976	Chocolate, Menta, Mastik	"Emor Shalom" (אמור שלום)	Hebrew	6	77
1977	Ilanit	"Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim" (אהבה היא שיר לשניים)	Hebrew	11	49
1978	Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta	"A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (א-ב-ני-בי)	Hebrew	1	157
1979	Milk and Honey	"Hallelujah" (הללויה)	Hebrew	1	125
1981	Habibi	"Halayla" (הלילה)	Hebrew	7	56
1982	Avi Toledano	"Hora" (הורה)	Hebrew	2	100
1983	Ofra Haza	"Hi" (חי)	Hebrew	2	136
1985	Izhar Cohen	"Olé, Olé" (עולה, עולה)	Hebrew	5	93
1986	Moti Giladi and Sarai Tzuriel	"Yavo Yom" (יבוא יום)	Hebrew	19	7
1987	Datner and Kushnir	"Shir Habatlanim" (שיר הבטלנים)	Hebrew	8	73
1988	Yardena Arazi	"Ben Adam" (בן אדם)	Hebrew	7	85
1989	Gili and Galit	"Derekh Hamelekh" (דרך המלך)	Hebrew	12	50
1990	Rita	"Shara Barkhovot" (שרה ברחובות)	Hebrew	18	16
1991	Duo Datz	"Kan" (כאן)	Hebrew	3	139
1992	Dafna	"Ze Rak Sport" (זה רק ספורט)	Hebrew	6	85
1993	Lehakat Shiru	"Shiru" (שירו)	Hebrew, English	24	4	Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1995	Liora	"Amen" (אמן)	Hebrew	8	81	No semi-finals
1996	Galit Bell	"Shalom Olam" (שלום עולם)	Hebrew	Failed to qualify[a] X		28	12
1998	Dana International	"Diva" (דיווה)	Hebrew	1	172[b]	No semi-finals
1999	Eden	"Yom Huledet (Happy Birthday)" (יום הולדת)	Hebrew, English	5	93
2000	PingPong	"Sameach" (שמח)	Hebrew[c]	22	7
2001	Tal Sondak	"Ein Davar" (אין דבר)	Hebrew	16	25
2002	Sarit Hadad	"Light a Candle"	Hebrew, English	12	37
2003	Lior Narkis	"Words for Love"	Hebrew[d]	19	17
2004	David D'Or	"Leha'amin" (להאמין)	Hebrew, English	Failed to qualify		11	57
2005	Shiri Maimon	"HaSheket SheNish'ar" (השקט שנשאר)	English, Hebrew	4	154	7	158
2006	Eddie Butler	"Together We Are One"	English, Hebrew	23	4	Top 11 previous year[e]
2007	Teapacks	"Push the Button"	English, French, Hebrew	Failed to qualify		24	17
2008	Boaz	"The Fire in Your Eyes"	Hebrew[f]	9	124	5	104
2009	Noa and Mira Awad	"There Must Be Another Way"	English, Hebrew, Arabic	16	53	7	75
2010	Harel Skaat	"Milim" (מילים)	Hebrew	14	71	8	71
2011	Dana International	"Ding Dong" (דינג דונג)	Hebrew, English	Failed to qualify		15	38
2012	Izabo	"Time"	English, Hebrew			13	33
2013	Moran Mazor	"Rak Bishvilo" (רק בשבילו)	Hebrew			14	40
2014	Mei Finegold	"Same Heart"	English, Hebrew			14	19
2015	Nadav Guedj	"Golden Boy"	English	9	97	3	151
2016	Hovi Star	"Made of Stars"	English	14	135	7	147
2017	Imri	"I Feel Alive"	English	23	39	3	207
2018	Netta Barzilai	"Toy"	English[g]	1	529	1	283
2019	Kobi Marimi	"Home"	English	23	35	Host country[h]
2020	Eden Alene	"Feker Libi" (ፍቅር ልቤ)	English, Amharic[i]	Contest cancelled[j] X
2021	Eden Alene	"Set Me Free"	English[k]	17	93	5	192
2022	Michael Ben David	"I.M"	English	Upcoming †
2023	Confirmed intention to participate †[5]

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest[]

Entrant	Language	Song	At Congratulations				At Eurovision
			Final	Points	Semi	Points	Year	Place	Points
Dana International	Hebrew	"Diva" (דיווה)	Failed to qualify		13	39	1998	1	172

Hostings[]

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters	Photo
1979	Jerusalem	International Convention Center	Yardena Arazi and Daniel Pe'er
1999			Dafna Dekel, Sigal Shachmon and Yigal Ravid
2019	Tel Aviv	Expo Tel Aviv	Erez Tal, Bar Refaeli, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub

Awards[]

Marcel Bezençon Awards[]

Year	Category	Song	Composer(s) lyrics (l) / Music (m)	Performer	Final	Points	Host city	Ref.
2010	Press Award	"Milim" (מילים)	Tomer Hadadi (m) and Noam Horev (l)	Harel Skaat	14	71	Oslo	[6]
	Artistic Award[l]							[6]
	Composer Award							[6]

Winner by OGAE members[]

Year	Song	Performer	Final result	Points	Host city	Ref.
2018	"Toy"	Netta	1	529	Lisbon	[7]

Related involvement[]

Conductors[]

Year	Conductor[m]	Musical Director	Notes	Ref.
1973	Nurit Hirsh	N/A		[8]
1974	Yoni Rechter
1975	Eldad Shrim
1976	Matti Caspi
1977	Eldad Shrim
1978	Nurit Hirsh[n]		[o]
1979	Kobi Oshrat[p]	Izhak Graziani	[q]
1981	Eldad Shrim	N/A		[9]
1982	Nansi Silviu Brandes		[r]
1983
1985	Kobi Oshrat
1986	Yoram Zadok
1987	Kobi Oshrat
1988	Eldad Shrim
1989	Shaike Paikov
1990	Rami Levin
1991	Kobi Oshrat
1992
1993	Amir Frohlich
1995	Gadi Goldman
1998	No conductor

Heads of delegation[]

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2002–2006	Izchak Sonnenschein	[10][11]

Commentators and spokespersons[]

Until 2018, Israel only had a television commentator once, in 1979. In most cases, they opted instead to simply broadcast the transmission without commentary and with Hebrew subtitles. Beginning in 2013 and lasting until 2017, they also aired the contest with Arabic subtitles on IBA Channel 33. 1980 was the only year that was not broadcast either on television or radio due to Yom HaZikaron; in both 1984 and 1997, which Israel also had to miss due to the holiday, the IBA aired the show on delay, and there was no radio broadcast. They also typically provided radio commentary beginning in the early '80s, unless they weren't participating that year (excepting 2000). They had no commentary of either sort until 2013, when they resumed radio broadcasting, and 2018, when they had their first television commentators since 1979. The Israeli transmission was also shown worldwide via the Israeli Network between 2003 and 2004.^[12]

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Year	Television commentator	Radio commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
1970	No commentator	Unknown	Did not participate
1971	No broadcast
1972	No commentator
1973		No radio broadcast	No spokesperson
1974			Yitzhak Shim'oni
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979	Yoram Arbel	Yitzhak Shim'oni	Dan Kaner
1980	No broadcast		Did not participate	[1]
1981	No commentator	Daniel Pe'er	Dan Kaner
1982			Yitzhak Shim'oni
1983
1984	Delayed, no commentator	No radio broadcast	Did not participate
1985	No commentator	Daniel Pe'er	Yitzhak Shim'oni
1986
1987		Yigal Ravid
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992		Yitzhak Shim'oni	Daniel Pe'er
1993		Daniel Pe'er	Danny Rup
1994		No radio broadcast	Did not participate
1995		Danny Rup	Daniel Pe'er
1996		No radio broadcast	Did not participate
1997	Delayed, no commentator
1998	No commentator	Daniel Pe'er	Yigal Ravid
1999			Yoav Ginai
2000		No radio broadcast
2001		Daniel Pe'er
2002			Michal Zoharetz
2003
2004		No radio broadcast	Merav Miller
2005			Dana Herman	[13]
2006
2007			Jason Danino-Holt	[14]
2008			Noa Barak-Weshler
2009			Ofer Nachshon	[15]
2010				[15]
2011				[15]
2012				[15]
2013		Kobi Menora (all shows); Ofer Nachshon (semi-final 1); Amit Kotler, Yuval Caspin (semi-final two); Ron Levinthal, Kobi Oshrat, Yhaloma Bat Porat (final)[16]		[15]
2014		Kobi Menora, Yuval Caspin (all shows)[17]		[15]
2015		Kobi Menora (all shows); Yuval Caspin (semi-final 1); Tal Argaman (semi-final 2)[18]		[15]
2016		Kobi Menora, Or Vaxman, Nansi Brandes (semi-final 2 and final)[19][20]		[15]
2017		Kobi Menora, Dori Ben Ze'ev, Alon Amir (all shows)[21]		[15]
2018	Asaf Liberman, Shir Reuven (semi-final 1) Itai Herman, Goel Pinto (semi-final 2) Erez Tal, Idit Hershkowitz (final)		Lucy Ayoub	[15]
2019	Sharon Taicher, Eran Zarachowicz		Izhar Cohen	[22]
2020	Geula Even-Sa'ar, Asaf Liberman		Not announced before cancellation	[23]
2021	Asaf Liberman and Akiva Novick		Lucy Ayoub	[24]

Costume designers[]

Year	Costume designers	Ref.
1973	Rozi Ben-Yosef	[25]
1976	Gideon Oberson	[26]
1978	Dorin Frankfurt	[25]
1979
1982
1983
1985	Nissim Mizrachi	[27]
1988	Perach Reuven	[25]
1990	Gideon Oberson	[25]
1991	Yaron Minkowsky	[28]
1995
1998	Galit Levi	[25]
2002	Pnina Tournet	[29]
2005	Riva Oshida	[30]
2009		[31]
2011	Jean Paul Gaultier	[32]
2013	Efrat Kalig	[33]
2014	Dana Barak	[34]
2017	David Sassoon
2018	Maor Zabar	[35]
2021	Alon Livne	[36]

Gallery[]

• 

  Chocolate, Menta, Mastik in The Hague (1976)

• 

  David D'Or in Istanbul (2004)

• 

  Teapacks in Helsinki (2007)

• 

  Boaz in Belgrade (2008)

• 

  Harel Skaat in Oslo (2010)

• 

  Dana International in Düsseldorf (2011)

• 

  Moran Mazor in Malmö (2013)

• 

  Mei Finegold in Copenhagen (2014)

• 

  Nadav Guedj in Vienna (2015)

• 

  Hovi Star in Stockholm (2016)

• 

  IMRI in Kyiv (2017)

• 

  Netta in Lisbon (2018)

• 

  Kobi Marimi in Tel Aviv (2019)

• 

  Eden Alene in Rotterdam (2021)

Arab reaction to Israeli participation[]

In 1978, during the performance of the Israeli entry, the Jordanian broadcaster JRTV suspended the broadcast, and instead showed pictures of flowers. When it became apparent during the later stages of the voting sequence that Israel was going to win the contest, JRTV abruptly ended the transmission.^[37] Afterwards, the Jordanian news media refused to acknowledge the fact that Israel had won, and announced that the winner was Belgium (which had actually come in second).^[38] By coincidence, Israel did not broadcast the victory either, as the IBA did not buy enough broadcasting time.^{[citation needed]} The victory was broadcast the next day.

At the time, Israeli Television was in its infancy and broadcasting in black & white. Many/most Israelis therefore watched international events in colour, using the signal from neighbouring Jordan. As Jordan did not broadcast the Israeli entry and the IBA did not broadcast the results part of the event, the win only became known as a result of radio broadcasts.

Because of Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, many Arab states that are eligible to participate do not do so. Tunisia, Morocco, and Lebanon are cases in point.^{[citation needed]} Tunisia intended participation in 1977, but decided not to do so in the end; Lebanon also intended to participate in 2005 when it withdrew (incurring a fine by the EBU) because Lebanese law does not allow recognition of Israel, and consequently Lebanese television would not transmit any Israeli material – which would have been a violation of the EBU's rules.^[39]

See also[]

• Music of Israel

Notes[]

References[]