Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. After much deliberation at the IBA over who would be the Israeli representative, it was announced that Noa & Mira Awad will go to Moscow for Israel. This was the first time that Israel will be represented by an Israeli Arab singer at Eurovision.[1][2] In a national final, Kdam Eurovision 2009, held on 2 March 2009, it was decided through the votes of juries and televoting, that the song that the duo will perform at Eurovision will be "Einaiych" (later titled as "There Must Be Another Way").[3][4]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country Israel
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal Selection
Song: Kdam Eurovision 2009
Selection date(s)Artist: 11 January 2009
Song: 2 March 2009
Selected entrantNoa & Mira Awad
Selected song"There Must Be Another Way"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (7th, 75 points)
Final result16th, 53 points
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Background
Main article: Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest

Although not geographically in Europe, Israel has been allowed to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest since it is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which all member states must be to compete. Israel's first participation was in 1973, where it was represented by Ilanit and placed fourth.

Israel's first victory came in 1978, when Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta won with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi". The 1979 contest was therefore held in Israel, the first time the contest was held outside of Europe, where Israel won again, this time represented by Milk and Honey with "Hallelujah". The country is one of only four countries to win the contest while on home soil. The 1980 Contest, however, was not held in Israel, due to the IBA's lack of funds to host another event, and so it was moved to the Netherlands. The date set for this contest, however, was Israeli Memorial Day, so the IBA withdrew. Israel's third win came in 1998, when Dana International won with "Diva". Their fourth, and last win to date, was in 2018 with Netta's Toy.

The Israeli national broadcaster, Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) broadcasts the event each year and organizes the selection process for its entry. The selection process has varied over the years from completely internal selections where the IBA chooses the performer and song, to a national final format where the public can vote for either the performer, the song, or both.

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

On 11 January 2009, IBA announced that Noa (Achinoam Nini) and Mira Awad were selected by a special committee as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.[1][2] Before Noa and Awad were selected, Harel Skaat was rumored to represent Israel at the 2009 contest, however negotiations failed due to a failed legal dispute between Skaat and his former record label Hed Arzi Music, forbidding him from recording new material for any purpose.[5][6][7][8] Marina Maximillian Blumin and Maya Bouskilla were also considered, however both declined due to issues with their current military services in the Israeli army.[9]

Kdam Eurovision 2009

The song that Noa and Mira Awad represented Israel with in Moscow was selected through a national final called Kdam Eurovision 2009. Due to financial difficulties, the national final was produced exclusively by IBA instead of co-producing with the commercial channel Channel 2.[10][11] Four songs, all written Noa, Mira Awad and Gil Dor and performed in English, Hebrew and Arabic, were selected for the competition "with the goal of using Eurovision as a means to convey a message of peace in these difficult times", as stated by Noa.[12]

The four songs were presented during a presentation show on 2 March 2009, which took place at the Nakdi TV Studios in Jerusalem, hosted by Eden Harel and broadcast on IBA 1, on radio via Reshet Gimmel as well as online via iba.org.il/eurovil.[13] The winning song "Einaiych" was selected by a combination of the votes from two regional juries (30%), an expert jury of IBA representatives (30%) and SMS votes from the public (40%), and was revealed during the show.[3][4]

Final – 2 March 2009
Draw Song Jury Televote Total Place
Hebrew Title English Title
1 "Kol Shniya" "Second Chance" 24 8 32 4
2 "Na'amin Bachalom" "Faith in the Light" 48 24 72 3
3 "Bo'i Lirkod Iti" "Will You Dance With Me?" 36 48 84 2
4 "Einaiych" "There Must Be Another Way" 72 40 112 1

At Eurovision

Israel had to compete in one of the two semi-finals after Boaz Mauda came ninth in the 2008 contest. The song competed in the first semi-final and progressed to the finals. In the final itself, Israel performed in the number two slot, a position from which no entry has ever won the contest. It eventually finished in 16th place.

Split results
  • In the Final Israel came 16th with 53 points: the public awarded Israel 25th (last) place with 15 points and the jury awarded 9th place with 107 points.

Points awarded by Israel
Split voting results from Israel (final)
Draw Country Jury points Televoting points Scoreboard (Points)
01  Lithuania
02  Israel
03  France 8 5
04  Sweden
05  Croatia 3
06  Portugal
07  Iceland 12 7 10
08  Greece
09  Armenia 6 5 8
10  Russia 10 7
11  Azerbaijan 8 6
12  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
13  Moldova 4 1 1
14  Malta 2
15  Estonia 4
16  Denmark
17  Germany
18  Turkey 7 3
19  Albania
20  Norway 10 12 12
21  Ukraine 6 2
22  Romania 3
23  United Kingdom 5 2 4
24  Finland
25  Spain
Points awarded to Israel (Semi-final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Israel (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

See also

References
  1. Barak, Itamar (11 January 2009). "Noa and Mira Awad to represent Israel". ESCToday. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
  2. "Israel: IBA confirm Noa & Mira as the 2009 representatives". Oikotimes. 11 January 2009. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
  3. Webb, Glen (2 March 2009). "Israel : Noa & Mira to Moscow with Einaiych". EBU. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  4. Laufer, Gil (2 March 2009). "Israel: Eurovision song chosen". ESCToday. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  5. Barak, Itamar (24 December 2008). "Israel: Harel Skaat is IBA's favourite". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
  6. Melman, Moshe (24 December 2008). "Israel: Harel Skaat to be selected?". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
  7. Barak, Itamar (27 December 2008). "Israel: Legal dispute puts Ska'at out of Eurovision bid". ESCToday. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  8. Melman, Moshe (28 December 2008). "Israel: Skaat Harel cannot represent Israel in Moscow". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  9. Floras, Stella (6 January 2009). "Israel ready to announce Maya for Eurovision 2009?". ESCToday. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  10. Barak, Itamar (15 December 2008). "Israel: Channel 2 says "No" to Kdam-Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  11. Melman, Moshe (19 December 2008). "Israel: Keshet rejects collaboration with IBA for Eurovision". Oikotimes. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  12. Wells, Simon (15 January 2009). "Noa speaks out over controversial ESC duet". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  13. Royston, Benny (18 February 2009). "Israel to select Eurovision entry on 2nd March". Esctoday.
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