Every day until December 24, we’re stuffing your stockings with a new Eurovision poll. So far we’ve asked you to name your favourite Finnish entry at Eurovision and to decide who had the best follow-up single in 2015 (among other things). Consider this our advent calendar for 2015. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, you can let us know your thoughts each and every day by casting your vote and sounding off in our comments section. After you’ve written your letter to Santa and lit up the candles, get ready to vote…
Day 7: Israel in Eurovision
Yesterday, December 6, was the first day of Hanukkah and the first of the eight candles was lit. We’re joining the Hanukkah festivities by celebrating the music Israel has offered us over the past ten years. From ballads calling for peace to cheesy pop numbers to club floor fillers, they’ve sent it all. But which of these ten Israeli entries is your favourite? You can vote for as many songs as you like, but you can only vote once, so choose carefully!
2006: Eddie Butler – “Together We Are One”
After Shiri Maimon achieved an impressive fourth place in Kyiv, Israel secured a spot in the final for the 2006 contest. Israel’s representative in Athens was Eddie Butler, who had previously represented the country with “Happy Birthday” as part of the group Eden. This wasn’t a happy day for Eddie, as France was the only country to give Israel points and they finished second to last.
2007: Teapacks – “Push the Button”
Teapacks won Israel’s national selection with their controversial song “Push the Button”. The opening lyrics explicitly addressed security concerns and tensions in the Middle East: “The world is full of terror, if someone makes an error, he’s gonna blow us up to biddy biddy kingdom come.” The EBU accepted the song to the contest anyway, and the group performed second in the biggest semifinal ever held. They failed to make an impact with the televoters. With only 17 points, they placed 24th in a field of 28.
2008: Boaz Mauda – “The Fire in Your Eyes”
Israel’s broadcaster selected Idol winner Boaz as their representative for Belgrade and staged a national selection to choose his song — out five songs he performed at Kdam 2008, “Ke’ilu Kan” emerged as the winner. Ahead of Eurovision it was renamed “The Fire in Your Eyes”. He finished ninth at the actual contest. Boaz made some good friends in Belgrade and subsequently released “Time to Pray” with Armenia’s Sirusho and Serbia’s Jelena Tomaševic.
2009: Noa & Mira Awad – “There Must Be Another Way”
For the first time ever, Israel sent an Israeli Arab to the contest. Mira Awad, born to an Israeli-Palestinian-Christian father, sang “There Must Be Another Way” together with Noa, an Israeli singer with a Yemenite background. Their song touched the hearts of Europeans and Israel placed 16th in the final.
2010: Harel Skaat – “Milim”
The IBA chose Israeli superstar Harel Skaat for Eurovision 2010 in Oslo. His song “Milim” was selected through Kdam Eurovision 2010, where it earned top marks from the jury and televoters. A pre-contest favourite, Israel finished 14th in the grand final. Harel was, however, crowned first runner-up in Eurovision’s Next Top Male Model.
2011: Dana International – “Ding Dong”
Dana International shook all of Europe when she became the first transgender person to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998. The “Diva” made a comeback by winning Kdam Eurovision 2011 with her self-composed song “Ding Dong”. Once again Dana performed in a dress designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, but she failed to repeat her previous success, placing only 15th in the semifinal.
2012: Izabo – “Time”
After Miss International’s poor result, Israeli broadcaster IBA decided to choose their representative internally. Indie rock band Izabo went to Baku with their song “Time”. They placed 13th in the semifinal.
2013: Moran Mazor – “Rak bishvilo”
Israel’s selection for Eurovision 2013 — and its budget — was bigger than it had been in years. After three semifinals, a second chance round and a big final, Moran Mazor was declared the winner. During her semi-final at Eurovision she sang her dramatic number “Rak bishvilo” completely in Hebrew and wore a deliciously hip-hugging mermaid dress. The evening ended in tears after she failed to reach the final, placing only 14th.
2014: Mei Finegold – “Same Heart”
A special committee was put together to find Israel’s next representative, and after shortlisting sixteen artists, Mei Finegold received the gig. She sang three songs in the national selection to choose the song, and “Same Heart” won with 55% of the SMS vote. Israel quickly emerged as one of the favourites to win in Copenhagen. Eurofans wept when Israel failed to advance. Later it was revealed that Israel only placed 14th in the semifinal.
2015: Nadav Guedj – “Golden Boy”
Israel did not want to fail to qualify for a fourth year in a row. So they turned to the already popular televised singing competition HaKokhav HaBa. Sixteen-year-old Nadav Guedj was selected to sing for Israel through the show, and his song “Golden Boy” was internally selected by committee. It was the first Israeli entry ever sung completely in English. During his semi-final at Eurovision, producers kept the suspense high by leaving Israel as the final country to be announced for the final. Israel later earned a very decent ninth place in the grand final.
1. 2009: Fantastic message and performance, my favorite Israeli entry to date.
2. 2014: Probably one of the most criminally underrated entries. Pop at its best.
3. 2008: A great, melodic and dramatic ballad.
4. 2015: Great song mixing rnb and pop with a great way!
5. 2011: An ok pop song.
6. 2013: A bit over-dramatic.
7. 2010: Not my cup of tea.
8. 2012: This makes me feel anxious.
9. 2006: Nothing special.
10. 2007: Not hearable to me.
Shiri Maimon was eleven years ago?
Harel Skaat was the best that Israel ever sent. I am sure if he had sang in English, he would have won the contest. I do not think a Hebrew song will ever win Eurovision unfortunately and his deserved to.
Fei’s was another great song that deserved to be top five…
Israel always bring it to Eurovision!
To think it has been 11 years since Shiri Maimon participated ! Mei Finegold gets my vote !
I’m still so angry that Moran Mazor and Mei Finegold didn’t make it to the final!
OT: Is it true that Eddie Butler became a Croatian citizen or that his livelihood is either there or in Russia? nobody heard from him in years after his 2006 ‘failure’ was a source for a few rude jokes (especially the part where he was laying down on the piano…), but recently he popped up in Sochi for the ‘New Wave’ festival in a duet with Croatia’s representative Damir Kedzo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoGSk3Nnjb8 *Best entry would have been ‘Dance With Me’ by Noa & Mira Awad in 2009, but out of these 10, ‘Time’ is probably the most original even though it… Read more »
Izabo has voice like Chris Griffin
Harel, Moran should have cracked the top 10. If that revolting mess that Romania had in 2014 made it to the finals Mei should have made it through even tho her performance was pretty lame.
And yes… madly in love with Nadav. Bring him back!
I’m not a big fan of Israeli songs in the contest and actually in my opinion Izabo had the only good one. A little bit weird, but just good ;).
Israel is so underrated nowadays.
Moran was fantastic in 2013, ans she missed the final, WHY?
Mei’s song was the best in 2014, and she missed the final, WHY?
Dana was amazing in 2011, and she missed the final,WHY?
Thanks God! Nadav reached the final and even the top ten with his energetic and catchy summer hit.
Rak Bishvilo no doubt. It was so unfair to see her out of the Grand Final. Almost as unfair as was in 2014 too for Mei. Gosh, they have managed to make it the year they have sent the worst song… Europe is deaf.
Boaz Mauda by far. I still sing that one like crazy. Actually my whole family does. As for the others, I don’t remember any.
My Top
1: 2014
2: 2015
3: 2011 (Yes I’m Surprised too)
4: 2008
5: 2013
6: 2010
7: 2009
8: 2012
9: 2006
10: 2007
Only one winner here: Nadav Guedj. The rest is not to impressive.
Boaz was amazing! His voice is phenomenal!
1. 2014
2. 2013
3. 2010
4. 2008
5. 2009
6. 2011
7. 2012
8. 2006
9. 2007
10. 2015
2014 deffo. Israel not qualifying that year was criminal, and it’s one of my favourite songs, not just Eurovision songs.
Israel is soo underrated at Eurovision. I think they have done a great job especially the past 3 years. My fav Israeli entries:
1. 2015 – This is in fact my favorite Eurovision song right now!! Best workout song.
2. 2010 – Just amazing.
3. 2013 – This song was soo underrated. It’s simply beautiful.
4. 2014 – Another great entry.
all except 2013 and 2011 and 2014
I loved golden boy when it was released HOWEVER one of the main reasons it was so hyped was because there was no fun dance songs that year they were all too serious and it was boring we needed some fun and isreal provided the fun yes the song was overrated but depends on what year you are sending it. Turkey is no longer in the contest so and greece have completely sold ethnopop out so isresl lived up to the plate if it was 2009 this song would of been swallowed alive by the other ethno pop songs as… Read more »
my top 5 have to be
1 2014
2 2013
3 2010
4 2015
5 2011
Rak Bishvilo was my favourite pre-contest 2013, although I dont think the performance was as good as it could’ve been. Still, really ought to have gone through. Second for me is Golden Boy. It’s just plain old Eurofun. Milim in 2010 was one of the better male ballads in the last ten years, and gets my third, but he did hit a bung note or two. Kind of like Rak Bishvilo, should;ve had a second chance. ——— Same Heart is also good, but not quite up there for me. 2005’s Hasheket Shenishar misses the time cutoff but deserves a mention… Read more »
For me TOP 5 from Israel at Eurovison from 1973 to 2015
1.1991
2.2005
3.1983
4.1981
5.2013
*2012 back down in my list.
And I forgot 2015, how silly of me. Hahaha
1.2013
2.2015
3.2014
4.2010
5.2008
6.2012
7.2011
8.2009
9.2007
10.2006
I am usually in love with everything Israel has to offer, Eurovision-wise. And many times, their songs are among my personal favorites. If I have to rank them, well:
1. 2008
2. 2014
3. 2002
The others, even though OK for listening, are not top 3 material. 🙂
Voted for Izabo and proud. Best Israeli entry ever and my 2012 favourite.
Ah, Israel, perhaps my favourite pet peeve in the contest. In the 21st century they have managed to send only three good entries: Rak bishvilo and Same Heart of this list and Hasheket Shenish’ar of 2005. Same Heart is probably the best one. The rest of the entries are either hideous or meh.
Mei, Harel and Moran were all robbed
Time! 🙂 no doubt. One of the alltime best entries. Would have qualified if juries decided. Brilliant feelgood indiepop/rock song. Exactly the kind of music I like the most outside ESC. The band was big in Israel fir many years
Rak Bishvilo was robbed so bad it wasn’t funny. It was a non-earth happening. Same Heart was also good, but not as good as Rak Bishvilo.
1) 2008
2) 2010
3) 2014
4) 2013
5) 2015
6) every other year
I still don’t get the fuzz around Same Heart. My favourite remain the 2 big masterpieces which were sung to perfection and spoke volume all on their own, without absolute any need for dancing and ridiculous distractions on stage. The Golden sh… I mean Boy was just a mix of sounding cool but then turning into crap just for the delight of fans who were suffering from cold feet and frozen body syndrome caused by ears being invaded by meaningful music.
Nadav’s “Golden Boy” is for me the best Israel has sent in years.
I love Israel entries, they send very good songs every year. Except Dana International in 2011 I love every their songs. My favourites are 2008, 2014 and 2015.
We don’t beat from the same heart <3
Same Heart is the best!!!!