Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

On 14 November 2007, IBA announced that Boaz Mauda was selected as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Mauda had previously won the fifth season of Kochav Nolad (Israeli version of Pop Idol).

The song that Boaz Mauda represented Israel with in Belgrade was selected through a national final called Kdam Eurovision 2008. IBA opened the public song submission period following the announcement of Mauda as the selected artist with the deadline on 6 January 2008. In addition to the public submissions, IBA directly invited composers to submit songs. 350 songs were submitted by the public and 100 songs were submitted by invited composers, which were subsequently evaluated by a committee that selected five songs.[1]

The five songs were presented during a presentation show on 25 February 2008, which took place at the Ulpaneii TV Studios in Herzeliya and hosted by Tzvika Hadar.[2] Following the presentation, public SMS voting commenced for the five songs. The winning song "Ke'ilu Kan" was selected by a combination of the votes from six voting groups: two regional juries, members from OGAE Israel, judges from Kochav Nolad, an expert jury of IBA and Keshet representatives and SMS votes from the public, and was revealed during a second presentation show on 26 February 2008.[3]