For Israel, Eurovision is much more than just a music festival. It is a direct door to the homes of its Western partners, a privileged means of propaganda to project an image of tolerance, modernity and openness. It is not surprising therefore that the Hebrew country has won the contest up to four times and is the tenth participant with the best average score since its debut in 1973. This successful trajectory, however, has developed in parallel to the Arab conflict -Israel and the progressive colonization of Palestinian territories by Tel Aviv, controversies that have inevitably jumped to the Eurovision stage.
In its first participation in 1973, Israel – which, despite not being a European country, is part of the European Broadcasting Union like Morocco or Turkey – was experiencing a particularly tense moment with the Arab world.
Just a year earlier, Palestinian terrorists had kidnapped and murdered eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich, and the celebration of the festival was marked by a heavy police deployment — the Israeli singer was watched at all times and the public was even asked to to remain seated throughout the program.
Far from shying away from the conflict, Israel held the 1979 edition in Jerusalem after the victory of A-ba-ni-bi in 1978, in an attempt to legitimize its occupation of the city, disputed with Palestine, and gain the support of the international community. Despite the controversy, the Israeli proposal, Hallelujahwas once again proclaimed the winner.
The venue election led to Turkey’s resignation and was followed just a few months later by the Israeli annexation of east Jerusalem. That same year, 1980, was the first time that Israel refused to submit a proposal to the festival—first declining to organize it for financial reasons and then participating because the date chosen by the Netherlands coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is also the only edition that has had the participation of an Arab country, Morocco, after the frustrated attempts of Tunisia and Lebanon precisely due to the presence of Israel.
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Upon its return, Tel Aviv regained the support of the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union and finished in second position in the 1982 and 1983 editions. After them, a period of instability began that led it to fall from Eurovision again. in 1984 for coinciding with Memorial Day, to third place in 1991 and to be removed by the organization itself in 1994 after a penultimate place and the need to make room for new participants. In 1997, the Hebrew country’s last absence, Holocaust Remembrance Day once again came between Israel and Eurovision.
In 1998, however, the song Diva It took Birmingham by storm and the festival returned to Jerusalem the following year. Since then, Israel’s Eurovision trajectory has been meandering and has interspersed isolated successes with major failures. Thus, together with Netta’s victory with toy in 2018 and the bronze by Noa Kirel with unicorn in 2023, the country has been eliminated in the semifinals on seven occasions so far this century.
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Regarding its support, Israel is not part of any of the festival’s historic geopolitical blocs, and its victories have been accompanied by votes in all latitudes of the European Broadcasting Union. France, of course, is the country that usually gives it the highest ratings, while, at the opposite extreme, Sweden is the most liked participant in the Hebrew country.
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