Israel was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Toy", written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger, and performed by Netta. The Israeli participating broadcaster, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), organised the reality singing competition in collaboration with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and to select its performer for the contest, while the song "Toy" was internally selected by a committee appointed by Kan. "Toy" went on to win the contest, marking Israel's fourth Eurovision win.
Background
Prior to the 2018 contest, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Israel forty times since its first entry in 1973. It has won the contest on three occasions: in with the song "" performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in with the song "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey, and in with the song "" performed by Dana International. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Israel has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final seven times, including three top ten results in with "" performed by Shiri Maimon placing fourth, in with "The Fire in Your Eyes" by Boaz placing ninth, and in with "Golden Boy" by Nadav Guedj placing ninth. Israel had failed to qualify to the final for four consecutive years between 2011 and 2014 prior to their qualification in 2015. In , "I Feel Alive" by Imri Ziv ended 23rd out of 26 entries in the final.
The 2017 contest was IBA's last television production and broadcast. On 15 May 2017, two days after the contest final, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) was launched and replaced IBA as the Israeli public broadcaster. On 6 July 2017, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and IPBC announced an agreement that allowed the new corporation to participate in EBU events while its membership application to the union was reviewed and awaiting approval. Thanks to this agreement, IPBC was allowed to participate in the 2018 contest without having yet become a full member of the EBU. It was not until 7 December 2018 that the EBU General Assembly approved IPBC membership.
IPBC selected its entry for the 2018 contest through the reality singing competition ("The Next Star for Eurovision"), which was organised in collaboration with by Keshet and Tedy Productions. This was the fourth time that the Israeli entry was selected through a collaboration with these two companies.
Before Eurovision
HaKokhav HaBa L'Eirovizion
The singer who would perform the Israeli entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was selected through the reality singing competition ("The Next Star for Eurovision"), the original version of the international format Rising Star, produced by Tedy Productions and Keshet Media Group. had been used since 2015 to select the Israeli artist for Eurovision. The shows was hosted by Assi Azar and Rotem Sela and featured a judging panel composed of Asaf Amdursky, Keren Peles, Harel Skaat (who represented ), and Static & Ben-El Tavori. The competition consisted of twenty shows, which commenced on 29 October 2017 and concluded on 13 February 2018. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Channel 2 and Keshet 12 as well as online via mako.co.il.
Out of the selected 120 contestants ninety-nine were shown in the televised auditions where performers were required to achieve 70% of the votes during their performance in order to advance; each member of the judging panel could boost a performer's score by 10%. Following a change in the rules of the competition, the hosts of the shows could also save performers who did not manage to achieve 70% of the votes during the audition phase, thus the selected performers would also advance, regardless to their scores during the auditions. In the end, seventy contestants advanced to the next round instead of the original seventy-one, following one contestant's withdrawal from the competition.
In the shortlisting round, the remaining seventy contestants were required to perform in front of the jury. The jury then selected twenty performers who qualified for the next stage of the competition.
The twenty performers were reduced to twelve in heat 1 and 2, and then from twelve to ten in heat 3 and 4.
Auditions Audition 1 The first audition was broadcast in two parts on 29 and 31 October 2017. Seven of the nine contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while one contestant who did not get enough votes to qualify was saved by the hosts.
Among the contestants was Chen Aharoni, who previously participated in the where he placed fourth with the song "Or".
+ Audition 129 and 31 October 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Jaki Gaforov "Feeling Good" — — 76% Advanced 2 Adva Omer "Ratsiti ledaber itcha" — — 73% Advanced 3 Tamir Cohen "Kol boker" — — 6% Eliminated 4 Jonathan Mergui "How Far I'll Go" — — 88% Advanced 5 Mor Karbasi "Im ha'ita ro'eh" 59% Saved 6 Netta Barzilai "Rude Boy" — — 82% Advanced 7 Gal Yaakobi "When I Was Your Man" — — 92% Advanced 8 Hagar Yefet "Ahava ka'zo (A Love Like This)" — — 78% Advanced 9 Chen Aharoni "Wrecking Ball" — — 94% Advanced
Audition 2 The second audition was broadcast on 5 November 2017. Six of the eight contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes.
Among the contestants was Rinat Bar who previously participated in the where she placed seventh with the song "Kmo chalom".
+ Audition 25 November 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Riki Ben Ari "A Natural Woman" — — 93% Advanced 2 Yissachar Hofi "Kedey she elech" — — 50% Eliminated 3 José Steinberg "Despacito" — — 93% Advanced 4 Eden Meiri "Tachzeri" — — 76% Advanced 5 Tslil Goldman "Arms" — — 88% Advanced 6 Amit Shekel "Na'ara bemishkafaim" — — 67% Eliminated 7 Rinat Bar "Neshika (Kiss Kiss)" — — 79% Advanced 8 Shir Baruch "Hakol over" Did not vote — — 72% Advanced
Audition 3 The third audition was broadcast on 12 November 2017. Five of the eight contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while one contestant who did not get enough votes to qualify was saved by the hosts.
Among the contestants was Alon Sharr, the lead singer of the band The Choice who previously took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 as a backing vocalist behind Imri. Noa Bell is the adopted daughter of Keren Peles, therefore Peles was not able to vote during her audition. Her vote was cast by Ben-El Tavori.
+ Audition 312 November 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Yafit Casay "Listen" — — 95% Advanced 2 Yossi Fitoussi "Im at adain ohevet oti" — — 81% Advanced 3 Hagai Atari "Sheheriot meatzmi" — — 67% Eliminated 4 Ravit Batashvili "Island" — — 86% Advanced 5 Shir Tzarfati "Ein li otcha" — — 72% Advanced 6 The Choice "Yesh zman" 63% Saved 7 Joey Bar "Made of Stars" — — 4% Eliminated 8 Noa Bell "Yafa kalevana" — — 82% Advanced
Audition 4 The fourth audition was broadcast in two parts on 19 and 20 November 2017. Eight of the eleven contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while one contestant who did not get enough votes to qualify was saved by the hosts. However, on 26 November 2017 it was confirmed that Liat Banai, who has originally qualified to the next phase, has withdrawn from the competition.
Dori Halevi is a close friend of Ben-El Tavori, therefore Tavori was not able to vote during his audition.
+ Audition 419 and 20 November 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Ofir Harush "Yesh makom" — — 84% Advanced 2 Yanir Shmiel "Billie Jean" — — 76% Advanced 3 O-Men "It Ain't Me" — — 38% Eliminated 4 Orel Gilad "Nigmar" — — 71% Advanced 5 Tal Mizrahi "American Idiot" — — 85% Advanced 6 Hezi Katri "Prachim bamidbar" — — 86% Advanced 7 Regina Fedorenko "Mango" — — 20% Eliminated 8 Liat Banai "Benadik" — — 86% Withdrew 9 Shir Gadasi "Elaich" — — 87% Advanced 10 Eden Newman Hyatt "I'm Stuck" — — 94% Advanced 11 Dori Halevi "Derech HaShalom" 56% Saved
Audition 5 The fifth audition was broadcast in two parts on 26 and 27 November 2017. Eight of the eleven contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while one contestant who did not get enough votes to qualify was saved by the hosts.
Among the contestants was Keshet Ben Ze'ev, the nephew of Izhar Cohen who (together with Alphabeta) won Eurovision for Israel in 1978 and finished fifth .
+ Audition 526 and 27 November 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Osher Bachta "Tocho ratsuf ahava" — — 83% Advanced 2 Lior Chen "Ein li otcha" — — 89% Advanced 3 Lidor Ovadia "Eifo at" — — 40% Eliminated 4 Shay and Gilad "Bli lehitkaven" — — 78% Advanced 5 Sama Jabour "Hallelujah" — — 74% Advanced 6 Bar Grotsky "Parparim" — — 78% Advanced 7 Roy Ivgy "Rak mitgagea" — — 61% Eliminated 8 Keshet Ben Ze'ev "Cold Water" — — 75% Advanced 9 Howie Danao "Don't" — — 81% Advanced 10 Amit Moshe Oren "Mevakesh slicha" — — 75% Advanced 11 Or Abramov "Shir achare milchama" 52% Saved
Audition 6 The sixth audition was broadcast in two parts on 3 and 4 December 2017. Six of the eleven contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while one contestant who did not get enough votes to qualify was saved by jury members Static and Ben-El Tavori instead of the hosts following a temporary switch in the roles during the contestants' audition.
Among the contestants was Joseph Guedj, a relative of Nadav Guedj who represented Israel in 2015.
+ Audition 63 and 4 December 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Jordan Uzan "I Wish" — — 77% Advanced 2 Rivka Siyum "Take a Bow" Did not vote — — 76% Advanced 3 Or Sela "'Ashir lach kol yom" — — 37% Eliminated 4 Stav Vaknin "Ve'im preda" — — 81% Advanced 5 Joseph Guedj "Simanei hazman" — — 41% Eliminated 6 Oded and Tzachi "Thinking Out Loud" — — 77% Advanced 7 Selfish Shepherd "Run" — — 47% Eliminated 8 Karin Mary Suliman "Mazal moznaim" 50% Saved 9 May Tor "I'm Not the Only One" — — 89% Advanced 10 Eliran Elias "Yesh ein sof" — — 71% Advanced 11 Amit Ben Dahan "Hagoral haze" Did not vote Did not vote — — 34% Eliminated
Audition 7 The seventh audition was broadcast in two parts on 10 and 11 December 2017. Six of the eleven contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while one contestant who did not get enough votes to qualify was saved by the hosts.
Among the contestants was Almog Kapach who previously took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 and 2017 as a backing vocalist behind Hovi Star and IMRI and also participated in the previous edition of the competition as a member of the band Beatbox Element, finishing fourth.
+ Audition 710 and 11 December 2017 Draw Artist Song Judges' vote Presenters' vote Score Result 1 Ella Rubal "Ulai ha'pa'am" — — 70% Advanced 2 Haostri "Tavi ta'chevre" — — 73% Advanced 3 Yam Peretz "Everything for Free" — 34% Eliminated 4 Sarit Hativa "Ratsiti ledaber itcha" 61% Saved 5 Shelly Mogilevski "Orot" — — 73% Advanced 6 David Cohen "Basof hakol holef" — — 36% Eliminated 7 David Zamudio "Rehab" — — 36% Eliminated 8 Nissim "Fly Away" — — 73% Advanced 9 Almog Kapach "Crazy" / "Crazy in Love" — — 82% Advanced 10 Roni Brachel "Sheva ba'erev" — — 44% Eliminated 11 Axum "Arnevet" — — 71% Advanced
Audition 8 The eighth audition was broadcast in two parts on 17 and 18 December 2017. Seven of the thirteen contestants advanced to the next phase following achieving at least 70% of the votes while two contestants who did not get enough votes to qualify were saved by the hosts.