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 toMoscow for Israel. 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".
Background
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, 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, and most recent, win to date came in 1998, when Dana International won with "Diva". The Israeli national broadcaster, Israel Broadcasting Authority 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
It had been rumored that Harel Skaat would be the 2009 Israeli Eurovision entrant. In the past he had been approached to represent Israel at Eurovision, but had turned the IBA down on its offer. In 2009, he was once again tipped as the leading candidate to be the entrant, but only on the condition that a current dispute between him and his former record label, Hed Arzi Music, is resolved, which forbids him from recording new material, for any purpose. This legal dispute, however, ended in failure, putting Skaat out of the running for Eurovision. Marina Maximillian Blumin had been revealed as a possibility for the IBA's committee after Skaat's failure, but could only head to Moscow if she could resolve issues with her current military service. Maya Bouskilla had also been revealed as a possibility, she was also enlisted in the Israeli army as of May 2008. On 11 January 2009, IBA announced that Achinoam Nini, known as Noa, was selected as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. It was later revealed that she would be joined by Mira Awad for the 2009 contest. This was the first time that Israel will be represented by an Israeli Arab singer at Eurovision.
The song that Noa and Mira Awad represented Israel with in Moscow was selected through a national final called Kdam Eurovision 2009, this time without the co-production of commercial channel Channel 2 due to financial difficulties. Noa has revealed that all four competing songs will be performed in English, Hebrew and Arabic, "with the goal of using Eurovision as a means to convey a message of peace in these difficult times". The final took place on 2 March 2009 at the Nakdi TV Studios in Jerusalem, hosted by Eden Harel. All songs, written by Noa, Mira Awad and Gil Dor, were performed by Noa and Mira Awad and the winning song was determined by a combination of the votes from public SMS voting and three jury groups made up of two regional juries in Kiryat Shmona and Beersheba and a IBA jury.
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 place with 15 points and the jury awarded 9th place with 107 points.
