Today is Yom Ha'atzmaut, the national day of Israel. It commemorates Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948 and to celebrate, let's take a look at some of the most iconic entries from Israel.
Honourable mention - 1979: Milk and Honey – ‘Hallelujah’ (1st in final) This one is an honourable mention because of the lasting effect it has had on the Contest.
It has been the go-to song for unity and bringing people together in follow up Contests.
It was used in ‘The Switch Song’ in 2019 Grand Final, and it was sung by all the competitors at the 1999 contest as a tribute to the victims of the Balkan War.
5. 1978: Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta – ‘A ba ni bi’ (1st in final)
Even if you do not speak Hebrew, you can’t argue that Izar Cohen and the group Alphabeta didn’t bring a catchy tune with even catchier lyrics to the stage in Paris.
They saw off the challenges from Belgium and France to nab Israel’s first ever win.
4. 2000: Ping Pong – ‘Sa'me'akh’ (22nd in final)
Not all songs are iconic for the right reasons. Israel’s entry in 2000 is memorable because of extreme simplicity of the song and for the controversy it caused. The members of Ping Pong waved Israeli and Syrian flags during the performance. The waving of the Syrian flag led to the performance being disendorsed by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority. The group also sung the song's title in English instead of in Hebrew.
3. 1998: Dana International – ‘Diva’ (1st in final)
This one makes the list because of how ground breaking the entry was. It was the first time a transgender competitor had ever won the contest, and it really was a defining moment in the history of the contest.
After seeing off challenges from the UK and Malta in the voting, Dana took the crown and nabbed Israel’s third win.
2. 2015: Nadav Guedj – ‘Golden Boy’ (9th in the final)
This is one of the favourites among the Eurovision fandom, and is the first Israeli Eurovision entry to be fully in English.
'Golden Boy' was the most successful Israeli entry in a long time, after Israel had four consecutive non qualifications, Nadav not only made the Grand Final but finished in the top 10 in quite a strong year.
1. 2018: Netta – ‘Toy’ (1st in final)
Israel’s most recent winner saw an entry with very quirky staging combined with powerful lyrics about women’s empowerment to create one unforgettable entry.
It capitalised on the #MeToo movement to create a powerful song about women's empowerment, and who could forget the chicken noises?
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