Israel was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song "Hurricane", written by Avi Ohayon, Keren Peles, and Stav Beger, and performed by Eden Golan. The Israeli participating broadcaster, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), selected Golan as its entrant through the show (Rising Star), in collaboration with commercial broadcaster Keshet and , while the song "Hurricane" was chosen internally. The Gaza war impacted the production of and brought Israel's participation in the contest into controversy.
Israel was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2024. Performing during the show in position 14, "Hurricane" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 11 May. It was later revealed that Israel placed first out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 194 points. In the final, Israel performed in position 6 and placed fifth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 375 points.
Background
Prior to the 2024 contest, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) until 2017, and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) since 2018, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Israel forty-five times since the IBA's first entry in . They had won the contest on four occasions: in with the song "" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in with the song "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey, in with the song "" by Dana International, and in with the song "Toy" by Netta. Since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, they had, to this point, managed to qualify to the final 12 times, achieving, besides its 2018 victory, four top ten results: in with "" by Shiri Maimon placing fourth, in with "The Fire in Your Eyes" by Boaz placing ninth, in with "Golden Boy" by Nadav Guedj placing ninth, and in with "Unicorn" by Noa Kirel placing third.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Kan organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. On 5 June 2023, Kan confirmed its participation in the 2024 contest, announcing that its representative would return to be selected through the reality singing competition (Rising Star), which had been used between 2015 and 2020.
Before Eurovision HaKokhav HaBa As was the case between 2015 and 2020, the artist who would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was selected through the reality singing competition , produced by and Keshet Media Group, and broadcast on Keshet 12 as well as online via mako.co.il. The shows took place at the in Neve Ilan, and were hosted by Assi Azar and Rotem Sela. The judging panel for the competition was composed of Assaf Amdursky, Keren Peles, Shiri Maimon (), Ran Danker, Itay Levi and Eden Hason.
Preliminary casting rounds started in late July 2023 and ended on 10 September 2023 at Pavilion 2 of Expo Tel Aviv (Eurovision 2019 venue), where candidates were judged based on an a cappella performance of two songs of their choice.
Shows and impact of the Gaza war Qualifiers from the preliminary casting phase proceeded to the auditions proper, held in Neve Ilan and originally set to be filmed in the presence of an audience from late September or early October 2023 and to begin airing in November 2023. However, following the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, filming for the competition was initially postponed in compliance with the Home Front Command's protection guidelines, eventually beginning without an audience in the week between 16 and 22 October, with the broadcasts initially scheduled to start on 31 October. The audience vote, which was set to determine 40% of the result alongside the judges, was replaced by the votes of a focus group.
On 31 October 2023, when it was planned to air, the broadcast of the first episode was postponed in order to commemorate two soldiers who had been killed in combat earlier that day. The decision to air the show in such circumstances was criticised by Israeli audiences and media, and the broadcasts were ultimately rescheduled to start on 20 November; for the initial run of episodes, the competition carried the title () before returning to the previous title () for the final episodes. The second show, scheduled for 22 November, was postponed to make room for a governmental press conference regarding a deal negotiated that day for the release of hostages held by Hamas; broadcasting resumed on 2 December. Segments from the opening of the casting round of 10 September were included in the televised shows.
The audition shows also included segments in support of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the very first contestant Shai Tamino, a member of the IDF's Education and Youth Corps band, performed wearing military fatigues; this led several Eurovision fan media outlets to begin limiting their coverage of Israel's participation in the contest, on the grounds that it clashed with the non-political and pacifist values traditionally associated with the event.
Auditions Candidates were required to get a score of at least 70% of the votes from the judges and a focus group in order to advance.
+ Audition 120 November 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Shai Tamino "" 85% Advanced 2 Lian Biran "Anyone" 97% Advanced 3 Eliya Sharabi "" 56% Eliminated 4 Eden Golan "Rise Up" 100% Advanced
+ Audition 22 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Moria Angel "Rise Up" 96% Advanced 2 "" 86% Advanced 3 Malka Bernstein "" 45% Eliminated 4 Arik Sinai "" 90% Advanced
+ Audition 33 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Shauli Greenglick† "" 83% Expected to advance 2 Michelle Shimonov "When We Were Young" 88% Advanced 3 "" / "" 80% Advanced 4 Ofri Maduel "" 55% Eliminated 5 Adele Zeltzer "" 87% Advanced
+ Audition 46 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Orel Ravid "" 87% Advanced 2 Liran Ben Moshe "" 75% Advanced 3 Noya Shrem "We're Good" 70% Advanced 4 Shalev Admoni "" 42% Eliminated 5 Mika Moshe "" 79% Advanced
+ Audition 510 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Malki Lipsker "Another Love" 95% Advanced 2 Raz Levi "" 53% Eliminated 3 Dor Shimon "" 94% Advanced 4 Yehuda Saado "Angels" 73% Advanced
+ Audition 617 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Noa Aharon "" 94% Advanced 2 Zohar Zacharov "" 81% Advanced 3 Or Giny "Hero" 55% Eliminated 4 Libi Naftali "Unicorn" 82% Advanced
+ Audition 718 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Mika Kertis "All I Want" 87% Advanced 2 Israel Levi "" 78% Advanced 3 Frida Uziel "" 57% Eliminated 4 Eitan Jorno "Jealous" 90% Advanced 5 Romi Netz "My Future" 78% Advanced
+ Audition 820 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Or Cohen "" 83% Advanced 2 Gal Kafri "She's Always a Woman" 86% Advanced 3 Shoval Mualem "" 62% Eliminated 4 Tahel Perry "Stone Cold" 79% Advanced 5 Tamar Ben-Zvi "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 77% Advanced
+ Audition 925 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Mishel Cohen "" 88% Advanced 2 Itay Ben Shalom "" 70% Advanced 3 Anael Bender "How Far I'll Go" 68% Eliminated 4 Roman Belov "Believer" 72% Advanced 5 Sharon Kidushin "" 79% Advanced
+ Audition 1027 December 2023 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Tal Sofer "Dancing with the Devil" 96% Advanced 2 Yosef Avraham "" 71% Advanced 3 Ofri Atias "" 49% Eliminated 4 Gal Juma "Flowers" 71% Advanced 5 May Naftali "Somewhere Only We Know" 78% Advanced
Shortlisting round The following phase, aired in segments on 31 December 2023, consisted of a shortlisting round, where the artists receiving a "yes" vote from all six judges automatically qualified and the others were chosen among those who had received four or five "yes" votes. 14 artists were shortlisted, namely Lian Biran, Eden Golan, Arik Sinai, Yehuda Saado, Shai Tamino, Ido Bartal, Mika Moshe, Jonathan Bitton, Mika Kertis, Dor Shimon, Or Cohen, Gal Kafri, Moria Angel, and Orel Ravid.
Top 14 round In the top 14 round, the votes of the judges and an audience determined one contestant to be eliminated from each show, ultimately coming down to the top five. In each of the first two shows and in the sixth show, the artist to be eliminated was the one getting the lowest overall score. In the third, fourth, seventh and ninth show, the artists were paired in duels, with the winners directly qualifying to the next round; the judges then selected one eliminee per show among the others. In the fifth show, the artists were coupled to perform duets, with the eliminee selected between the lowest scoring duo. In the eighth show, each contestant performed a duet with a surprise guest artist.
+ Top 14 roundShow 13 January 2024 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Mika Moshe "" 96% Advanced 2 Or Cohen "Creep" 94% Advanced 3 Jonathan Bitton "" 65% Advanced 4 Moria Angel "Listen" 50% Advanced 5 Dor Shimon "" 60% Advanced 6 Gal Kafri "" 41% Eliminated 7 Eden Golan "Ain't No Other Man" 85% Advanced
+ Top 14 roundShow 27 January 2024 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Lian Biran "Someone You Loved" 93% Advanced 2 Ido Bartal "" / "" 67% Advanced 3 Shai Tamino "" 84% Advanced 4 Yehuda Saado "" 50% Eliminated 5 Orel Ravid "" 95% Advanced 6 Mika Kertis "Scars to Your Beautiful" 72% Advanced 7 Arik Sinai "" 91% Advanced
+ Top 14 roundShow 310 January 2024 Duel Artist Song Jury votes Score Result I 1 Or Cohen "Hopelessly Devoted to You" 93% Advanced 2 Mika Moshe "" 86% Saved II 3 Mika Kertis "Mad World" 59% Eliminated 4 Orel Ravid "" 96% Advanced III 5 Lian Biran "Can't Help Falling in Love" 95% Saved 6 Eden Golan "" 96% Advanced
+ Top 14 roundShow 414 January 2024 Duel Artist Song Jury votes Score Result I 1 Jonathan Bitton "" 92% Advanced 2 Dor Shimon "" 80% Saved II 3 Shai Tamino "Fix You" 66% Saved 4 Moria Angel "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" 82% Advanced III 5 Ido Bartal "" 75% Eliminated 6 Arik Sinai "" 87% Advanced
+ Top 14 roundShow 517 January 2024 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Mika Moshe "" 73.58% Advanced Orel Ravid Advanced 2 Dor Shimon "" / "" 73.71% Advanced Jonathan Bitton Advanced 3 Eden Golan "If I Ain't Got You" 93% Advanced Or Cohen Advanced 4 Lian Biran "Imagine" 29% Saved Moria Angel Eliminated 5 Arik Sinai "" 77% Advanced Shai Tamino Advanced
+ Top 14 roundShow 621 January 2024 Artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Or Cohen "Take Me to Church" 86% Advanced 2 Shai Tamino "" 83% Advanced 3 Dor Shimon "" 88% Advanced 4 Mika Moshe "...Baby One More Time" 94% Advanced 5 Orel Ravid "" 81% Advanced 6 Eden Golan "The Climb" 90% Advanced 7 Jonathan Bitton "" 62% Eliminated 8 Lian Biran "" 68% Advanced 9 Arik Sinai "Hallelujah" 66% Advanced
+ Top 14 roundShow 722 January 2024 Duel Artist Song Jury votes Score Result I 1 Mika Moshe "Hey Tom" 97% Advanced 2 Dor Shimon "" 81% Saved II 3 Lian Biran "Out Here on My Own" 82% Advanced 4 Orel Ravid "" 59% Eliminated III 5 Eden Golan "Masterpiece" 83% Advanced 6 Shai Tamino "Warrior" 73% Saved IV 7 Or Cohen "" 94% Advanced 8 Arik Sinai "" 79% Saved
+ Top 14 roundShow 825 January 2024 Artist Guest artist Song Jury votes Score Result 1 Or Cohen Margalit Tzan'ani "Proud Mary" 94% Advanced 2 Mika Moshe Netta Barzilai "" 86% Advanced 3 Dor Shimon Nasrin Kadri "" 79% Advanced 4 Eden Golan Valerie Hamaty "Let It Be" 92% Advanced 5 Shai Tamino Roni Dalumi "" 72% Advanced 6 Lian Biran "All I Ask" 56% Advanced 7 Arik Sinai Gali Atari "" 51% Eliminated
+ Top 14 roundShow 928 January 2024 Duel Artist Song Jury votes Score Result I 1 Mika Moshe "" 88% Advanced 2 Or Cohen "" 75% Saved II 3 Dor Shimon "" 63% Saved 4 Shai Tamino "I'll Stand by You" 72% Advanced III 5 Lian Biran "" 82% Eliminated 6 Eden Golan "You Raise Me Up" 94% Advanced
Semi-final round