Over the course of April and May, on the lead up to the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, we will be celebrating the countries that are participating this year in Rotterdam. Today, we celebrate Israel.

Israel debuted at the Contest in 1973, in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Ilanit finished in fourth place with her entry “Ey Sham”, scoring 97 points.

The most successful entry from Israel was in 1978, 1979, 1998 and 2018. In 1978, when the Contest took place in Paris, France, Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta finished in first place with their entry “A-Ba-Ni-Bi”, scoring 157 points. This included six sets of twelve points from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey.

In 1979, when the Contest took place in Jerusalem, Israel, Milk & Honey finished in first place with their entry “Hallelujah”, scoring 125 points. This included six sets of twelve points from Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In 1998, when the Contest took place in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, Dana International finished in first place with her entry “Diva”, scoring 172 points. This included three sets of twelve points from France, Malta and Portugal.

In 2018, when the Contest took place in Lisbon, Portugal, Netta finished in first place with her entry “Toy”, scoring 529 points. This included five sets of jury twelve points from Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, France and San Marino. This also included eight sets of televote twelve points from Australia, Azerbaijan, France, Georgia, Moldova, San Marino, Spain and Ukraine.

The most recent Israeli entry was due to be in 2020, when the cancelled Contest was due to take place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Eden Alene was due to represent Israel with her entry “Feker Libi”.

This year, Israel will be represented by Eden Alene with her song “Set Me Free”. Will Eden Alene take Israel to their fifth victory?

Join us tomorrow, as we celebrate Romania’s participation at the Eurovision Song Contest. Let us know what you think about the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest – either in the comments below or on our FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages.

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland