Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 47 times since making its debut in Template:Escyr. The current Israeli participating broadcaster in the contest is the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan). Israel has won the contest four times, and has hosted the contest in Jerusalem in Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr, and in Tel Aviv in Template:Escyr.

Israel's first appearance in the contest in 1973 was successful, with "" performed by Ilanit finishing fourth. Israel then achieved victories in Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr, with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, and "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey. In Template:Escyr, the Israeli broadcaster declined to host the contest for a 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 instance of a winning country not competing the following year. The country's best results in the 1980s were second-place finishes for "" by Avi Toledano in Template:Escyr and "" by Ofra Haza in Template:Escyr. Former winner Izhar Cohen returned to place fifth with "" in Template:Escyr, before "" by Duo Datz finished third in Template:Escyr. Israel achieved its third victory in Template:Escyr, with "Diva" by Dana International. "Happy Birthday" by Eden then finished fifth in Template:Escyr. To date, 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 Template:Escyr, Template:Escyr, and Template:Escyr, 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 Template:Escyr, "" by 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 in Template:Escyr with "Golden Boy" by Nadav Guedj ultimately finishing ninth, and the country has participated in the final every year since, with the exception of Template:Escyr. Israel won the contest for a fourth time in Template:Escyr, with "Toy" by Netta.

History

The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It had participated in the contest, representing Israel, since the Template:Escyr in 1973. In 2017, the IBA was succeeded as national broadcaster by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), which has been in charge of participating in the contest for Israel since the following year.

To date, there have been four Israeli victories in the contest. Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta won in Paris in Template:Escyr with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi". On home ground in Jerusalem Template:Escyr, Israel won again, this time with "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey. Unusually, Israel did not defend the title in Template:Escyr (see below). The third victory came almost 20 years later in Birmingham in Template:Escyr, when Dana International took top honours with the song "Diva". It took a 20-year wait for Israel to record its fourth victory at the Template:Escyr in Lisbon, with the song "Toy" by Netta, earning Israel its highest-ever score of 529 points.

Israel's earliest selections were picked by the IBA. The first singer to represent the country was Ilanit, who finished 4th in Template:Escyr. In 1972, while Ilanit was in Germany recording as part of the duo Ilan and Ilanit with her partner Shlomo Tzach, the duo received an offer to represent Template:Esccnty in Template:Escyr. Since Israel was eligible to participate, they approached the IBA with a proposal that Ilanit would represent Israel. However, the registration period was over by then and Ilanit was told she could represent Israel in 1973. After she was sent again four years later, it was decided that henceforth the winner of the Hebrew Song Festival would represent Israel. The 1978 and 1979 Israeli Eurovision winners were selected by this method. From 1981, the selection process took place via the with the exception of 1990, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, when the IBA selected its representatives internally.

After winning the contest in 1978 and 1979, the IBA was financially and logistically unable to organise the event for a second consecutive year. The Netherlands agreed to host the 1980 contest in Israel's place. The date chosen for that year's contest coincided with Yom HaZikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, so Israel could not compete. This made Israel the only country to date unable to defend its title. The 1980 winning song "Pizmon Chozer" by The Brothers & the Sisters never had an opportunity to compete.

In 1984, Israel again refrained from participating due to the same date conflict. It was rumoured that Ilanit and the song "Balalaika" would have been its representative that year, but this was denied by Shlomo Zach, the producer of the song.Template:Better source needed

Israel's entries have had a mixed reception. Avi Toledano (Template:Escyr) and Ofra Haza (Template:Escyr) scored well with big revivalist numbers, but the all-singing, all-dancing style became less popular later in the decade and Israel's Template:Escyr entry, "Yavo Yom" by Moti Giladi and Sarai Tzuriel, came in 19th.

In Template:Escyr, Israel finished 8th with "Shir Habatlanim" by the satiric duo Lazy Bums. Then-Israeli Minister of Culture, Yitzhak Navon, said he would resign if the song went on to represent Israel at the contest; this ultimately did not occur.

In Template:Escyr, Rita's "" was not well received, but in Template:Escyr, Orna and Moshe Datz finished third, Israel's best result since 1983. Israel also had a 5th-place finish by Eden when it hosted the Template:Escyr. Ping-Pong's disco effort in Template:Escyr failed, though the group was noted for their optimistic lyrics and message of reconciliation and peace. They waved Syrian flags at the end of their performance, angering some Israelis.

In Template:Escyr, David D'Or came 11th in the semi-final with "", leaving Israel out of the final for the first time since 1997. Shiri Maimon with "" in Template:Escyr brought Israel back to the top five, and ensured Israel a place in the Template:Escyr final, where it 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 only four points.

IBA's Eurovision committee chose Teapacks to represent Israel in the Template:Escyr contest. Their humorous entry "Push the Button" finished in 24th place out of a semi-final field of 28 and failed to reach the final. Israel thus had to compete in the semi-final in Template:Escyr, from which it passed on to the final, with Boaz and "The Fire in Your Eyes" finishing ninth there. In Template:Escyr, an Arab citizen of Israel represented the country for the first time, as Mira Awad performed "There Must Be Another Way" alongside Jewish-Israeli singer Noa in Moscow. Israel was represented in 2010 by Harel Skaat, who came 14th in the final with "Milim".

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. In 2015, Nadav Guedj brought Israel back to the final with "Golden Boy", the first Israeli entry without a Hebrew lyric. Prior to their fourth win, it 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, it eventually finished in 23rd place, making it the fourth time since 2015 that the host country ranked in the bottom five.

In 2020, Eden Alene was selected to represent the country with "Feker Libi". Following the cancellation of the 2020 edition, she was retained as the Israeli representative for Template:Escyr, this time with "Set Me Free", 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. Michael Ben David represented Israel in 2022 with "I.M", but failed to qualify for the final, marking the first time that Israel missed out on a final since 2014. Noa Kirel with "Unicorn" finished in third place in 2023, followed by Eden Golan finishing in fifth place in 2024 with "Hurricane", and Yuval Raphael finishing second in 2025 with "New Day Will Rise".

Participation overview

Table key

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

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
Template:Escyr	Ilanit	"" ()	Hebrew	4	97	rowspan="18" colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Poogy	"" ()	Hebrew	7	11
Template:Escyr	Shlomo Artzi	"" ()	Hebrew	11	40
Template:Escyr	Chocolate, Menta, Mastik	"" ()	Hebrew	6	77
Template:Escyr	Ilanit	"" ()	Hebrew	11	49
Template:Escyr	Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta	"" ()	Hebrew	1	157
Template:Escyr	Milk and Honey	"Hallelujah" ()	Hebrew	1	125
Template:Escyr		"" ()	Hebrew	7	56
Template:Escyr	Avi Toledano	"" ()	Hebrew	2	100
Template:Escyr	Ofra Haza	"" ()	Hebrew	2	136
Template:Escyr	Izhar Cohen	"" ()	Hebrew	5	93
Template:Escyr	Moti Giladi and Sarai Tzuriel	"" ()	Hebrew	19	7
Template:Escyr	Datner and Kushnir	"" ()	Hebrew	8	73
Template:Escyr	Yardena Arazi	"" ()	Hebrew	7	85
Template:Escyr	Gili and Galit	"" ()	Hebrew	12	50
Template:Escyr	Rita	"" ()	Hebrew	18	16
Template:Escyr	Duo Datz	"" ()	Hebrew	3	139
Template:Escyr	Dafna	"" ()	Hebrew	6	85
Template:Escyr		"" ()	Hebrew, English	24	4	colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Liora	"" ()	Hebrew	8	81	colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Galit Bell	"" ()	Hebrew	colspan="2" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn X	28	12
Template:Escyr	Dana International	"Diva" ()	Hebrew	1	172	rowspan="6" colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Eden	"Happy Birthday"	Hebrew, English	5	93
Template:Escyr	PingPong	"" ()	Hebrew	22	7
Template:Escyr	Tal Sondak	"" ()	Hebrew	16	25
Template:Escyr	Sarit Hadad	"Light a Candle"	Hebrew, English	12	37
Template:Escyr	Lior Narkis	"Words for Love"	Hebrew	19	17
Template:Escyr	David D'Or	"" ()	Hebrew, English	colspan="2" Template:N/A	11	57
Template:Escyr	Shiri Maimon	"" ()	English, Hebrew	4	154	7	158
Template:Escyr	Eddie Butler	"Together We Are One"	English, Hebrew	23	4	colspan="2" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn
Template:Escyr	Teapacks	"Push the Button"	English, French, Hebrew	colspan="2" Template:N/A	24	17
Template:Escyr	Boaz	"The Fire in Your Eyes"	Hebrew	9	124	5	104
Template:Escyr	Noa and Mira Awad	"There Must Be Another Way"	English, Hebrew, Arabic	16	53	7	75
Template:Escyr	Harel Skaat	"" ()	Hebrew	14	71	8	71
Template:Escyr	Dana International	"Ding Dong"	Hebrew, English	colspan="2" rowspan="4" Template:N/A	15	38
Template:Escyr	Izabo	"Time"	English, Hebrew	13	33
Template:Escyr	Moran Mazor	"" ()	Hebrew	14	40
Template:Escyr	Mei Finegold	"Same Heart"	English, Hebrew	14	19
Template:Escyr	Nadav Guedj	"Golden Boy"	English	9	97	3	151
Template:Escyr	Hovi Star	"Made of Stars"	English	14	135	7	147
Template:Escyr	Imri	"I Feel Alive"	English	23	39	3	207
Template:Escyr	Netta	"Toy"	English, Hebrew	1	529	1	283
Template:Escyr	Kobi Marimi	"Home"	English	23	35	colspan=2 Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Eden Alene	"" ()	English, Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic	colspan="4" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn X
Template:Escyr	Eden Alene	"Set Me Free"	English, Hebrew	17	93	5	192
Template:Escyr	Michael Ben David	"I.M"	English	colspan="2" Template:N/A	13	61
Template:Escyr	Noa Kirel	"Unicorn"	English, Hebrew	3	362	3	127
Template:Escyr	Eden Golan	"Hurricane"	English, Hebrew	5	375	1	194
Template:Escyr	Yuval Raphael	"New Day Will Rise"	English, French, Hebrew	2	357	1	203
Template:Escyr	colspan="7"; background-color:"#DDF" Template:TBA

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Artist	Song	Language	At Congratulations				At Eurovision
			Final	Points	Semi	Points	Year	Place	Points
Dana International	"Diva" ()	Hebrew	colspan="2" Template:N/A	13	39	Template:Escyr	1	172

Hosting

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters	Photo
Template:Escyr	Jerusalem	International Convention Center	Yardena Arazi and Daniel Pe'er	File:Yardena Arazi.jpgFile:Daniel-Peer.jpg
Template:Escyr			Dafna Dekel, Sigal Shachmon and Yigal Ravid	File:Sigal Shachmon and Dafna Dekel D941-056.jpgFile:Yigal Ravid.jpg
Template:Escyr	Tel Aviv	Expo Tel Aviv	Erez Tal, Bar Refaeli, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub	File:ESC2019 - Hosts 01.jpg

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year	Category	Song	Composer(s) lyrics (l) / Music (m)	Performer	Final	Points	Host city	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Press Award	"Milim" ()	Tomer Hadadi (m) and Noam Horev (l)	Harel Skaat	14	71	Template:Flagicon Oslo
	Artistic AwardTemplate:Efn
	Composer Award

Winner by OGAE members

Year	Song	Performer	Final result	Points	Host city	Ref.
Template:Escyr	"Toy"	Netta	1	529	Template:Flagicon Lisbon

Related involvement

Conductors

Year	ConductorTemplate:Efn	Musical director	Notes	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Nurit Hirsh	rowspan="5" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Yoni Rechter
Template:Escyr	Eldad Shrim
Template:Escyr	Matti Caspi
Template:Escyr	Eldad Shrim
Template:Escyr	Nurit Hirsh	Izhak Graziani	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr	Kobi Oshrat		Template:EfnTemplate:Efn
Template:Escyr	Eldad Shrim	rowspan="14" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Nansi Silviu Brandes	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Kobi Oshrat
Template:Escyr	Yoram Zadok
Template:Escyr	Kobi Oshrat
Template:Escyr	Eldad Shrim
Template:Escyr	Shaike Paikov
Template:Escyr	Rami Levin
Template:Escyr	Kobi Oshrat
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Amir Frohlich
Template:Escyr	Gadi Goldman
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Izchak Sonnenschein
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Yoav Ginai
Template:Escyr	Tal Barnea
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Tali Katz
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Yuval Fischer
Template:Escyr–present	Template:Ill

Commentators and spokespersons

Until 2018, Israel only had a television commentator once, in 1979. In most cases, the IBA opted instead to simply broadcast the transmission without commentary and with Hebrew subtitles. Between 2013 and 2017, it also aired the contest with Arabic subtitles on Channel 33. 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. It also typically provided radio commentary beginning in the early 1980s, unless the country was not participating that year (with the exception of 2000). The IBA did not provide commentary until 2013, when it resumed radio broadcasting. In 2018, the IBA's successor, Kan, employed television commentators for the contest, which was a first for the country since 1979. The Israeli transmission was also shown internationally via the Israeli Network in 2003 and 2004.

Year	Television commentator	Radio commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A	rowspan="3" Template:N/A	rowspan="3" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	rowspan="7" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	rowspan="6" Template:N/A	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill	Yitzhak Shim'oni	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	rowspan="4" Template:N/A	Template:N/A	Did not participate
Template:Escyr	Daniel Pe'er	Dan Kaner
Template:Escyr		Yitzhak Shim'oni
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A	Template:N/A	Did not participate
Template:Escyr	rowspan="33" Template:N/A	Daniel Pe'er	Yitzhak Shim'oni
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Yigal Ravid
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Yitzhak Shim'oni	Daniel Pe'er
Template:Escyr	Daniel Pe'er	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Danny Roup	Daniel Pe'er
Template:Escyr	rowspan="2" Template:N/A	rowspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Daniel Pe'er	Yigal Ravid
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Daniel Pe'er
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	No radio broadcast	Merav Miller
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Jason Danino-Holt
Template:Escyr		Noa Barak-Weshler
Template:Escyr		Ofer Nachshon
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Kobi Menora (all shows); Ofer Nachshon (semi-final 1); Amit Kotler, Yuval Caspin (semi-final 2); Ron Levinthal, Kobi Oshrat, Yhaloma Bat Porat (final)
Template:Escyr	Kobi Menora, Yuval Caspin (all shows)
Template:Escyr	Kobi Menora (all shows); Yuval Caspin (semi-final 1); Tal Argaman (semi-final 2)
Template:Escyr	Kobi Menora, Or Vaxman, Nansi Brandes (semi-final 2 and final)
Template:Escyr	Kobi Menora, Dori Ben Ze'ev, Alon Amir (all shows)
Template:Escyr	Asaf Liberman, Shir Reuven (semi-final 1) Itai Herman, Goel Pinto (semi-final 2) Erez Tal, Idit Hershkowitz (final)		Lucy Ayoub
Template:Escyr	Sharon Taicher, Eran Zarachowicz		Izhar Cohen
Template:Escyr	Geula Even-Sa'ar, Asaf Liberman		Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Asaf Liberman, Akiva Novick		Lucy Ayoub
Template:Escyr			Daniel Styopin
Template:Escyr	Asaf Liberman, Akiva Novick (all shows); Doron Medalie (final)	Asaf Liberman, Akiva Novick (semi-finals); Kobi Menora, Sharon Kantor (final)	Ilanit
Template:Escyr	Asaf Liberman, Akiva Novick (all shows); Yoav Tzafir (final)	rowspan="2" Template:N/A	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	Asaf Liberman, Akiva Novick (all shows); Keren Peles (final)	Eden Golan

Costume designers

Year	Costume designers	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Rozi Ben-Yosef
Template:Escyr	Gideon Oberson
Template:Escyr	Dorin Frankfurt
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Nissim Mizrachi
Template:Escyr	Perach Reuven
Template:Escyr	Gideon Oberson
Template:Escyr	Yaron Minkowsky
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Galit Levi
Template:Escyr	Pnina Tournet
Template:Escyr	Riva Oshida
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Jean Paul Gaultier
Template:Escyr	Efrat Kalig
Template:Escyr	Dana Barak
Template:Escyr	David Sassoon
Template:Escyr	Maor Zabar
Template:Escyr	Alon Livne
Template:Escyr	Alon Livne
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill

Photo gallery

• Chocolate, Menta, Mastik in The Hague (Template:Escyr)
  Chocolate, Menta, Mastik in The Hague (Template:Escyr)
• David D'Or in Istanbul (Template:Escyr)
  David D'Or in Istanbul (Template:Escyr)
• Teapacks in Helsinki (Template:Escyr)
  Teapacks in Helsinki (Template:Escyr)
• Boaz in Belgrade (Template:Escyr)
  Boaz in Belgrade (Template:Escyr)
• Harel Skaat in Oslo (Template:Escyr)
  Harel Skaat in Oslo (Template:Escyr)
• Dana International in Düsseldorf (Template:Escyr)
  Dana International in Düsseldorf (Template:Escyr)
• Moran Mazor in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
  Moran Mazor in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
• Mei Finegold in Copenhagen (Template:Escyr)
  Mei Finegold in Copenhagen (Template:Escyr)
• Nadav Guedj in Vienna (Template:Escyr)
  Nadav Guedj in Vienna (Template:Escyr)
• Hovi Star in Stockholm (Template:Escyr)
  Hovi Star in Stockholm (Template:Escyr)
• Imri in Kyiv (Template:Escyr)
  Imri in Kyiv (Template:Escyr)
• Netta in Lisbon (Template:Escyr)
  Netta in Lisbon (Template:Escyr)
• Kobi Marimi in Tel Aviv (Template:Escyr)
  Kobi Marimi in Tel Aviv (Template:Escyr)
• Eden Alene in Rotterdam (Template:Escyr)
  Eden Alene in Rotterdam (Template:Escyr)
• Michael Ben David in Turin (Template:Escyr)
  Michael Ben David in Turin (Template:Escyr)
• Noa Kirel in Liverpool (Template:Escyr)
  Noa Kirel in Liverpool (Template:Escyr)
• Eden Golan in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
  Eden Golan in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
• Yuval Raphael in Basel (Template:Escyr)
  Yuval Raphael in Basel (Template:Escyr)

Controversies

Arab reaction

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. Afterwards, Jordanian news media refused to acknowledge Israel's victory, and announced that the winner was Belgium (which had actually come in second). By coincidence, Israel did not broadcast the victory as well, as the IBA was unable to buy enough broadcasting time; the victory was broadcast the following day. At the time, Israeli television was in its infancy and broadcasting in black-and-white. Most Israelis therefore watched international events in colour, with the signal relayed via Jordan. As Jordan did not broadcast the Israeli entry and the IBA did not broadcast the results portion of the event, the win only became known via radio broadcasts.

It is believed that Arab states with EBU member broadcasters that are eligible to participate in the contest do not do so due to Israel's participation. Template:Esccnty intended to participate in 1977, but opted not to do so in the end; Template:Esccnty also intended to participate in Template:Escyr but later withdrew (incurring a fine by the EBU) because Lebanese law does not allow the promotion of Israeli content, and consequently Lebanese television was not allowed to transmit the Israeli entry – which would have been a violation of the contest's rules.

See also

• Music of Israel
• Controversies in the Eurovision Song Contest