Israel are another of Eurovision's most successful nations, winning on 3 occasions, the last of which was in 1998 with the wonderful Dana International, singing 'Diva'.  1999 saw them secure a comfortable 5th place but it all went downhill from there.  In fairness, their entries were very bad and that's why they could only muster 22nd in 2000, 16th in 2001, a slightly better 12th with a slightly better song in 2002, 19th in 2003 and failure to qualify with 11th place in 2004 (which I think was quite could considering the song was probably the worst in the Contest that year).  2005 saw a happy return to form, proving that a great song can get great results.  Shiri Maimon with 'Time to say goodbye' performed in Hebrew and English got Israel through the Semi-Final in 7th place, and she managed to better it with 4th place in the Final.  In 2006, Israel had what turned out to be a great song but failed to impress, finding themselves in the bottom few, and continued to make as little an impact as possible on the scoreboard with the Tea Packs in 2007, so it's back to the drawing board for 2008.

 

 

This year’s Israeli entry is, yet again, not a patch on Shiri Maimon’s number in 2005, and since none of their entries have matched up to this standard, I don’t see very big things for Israel this year.  It’s hard to review this one as there’s something likeable about it, but I still think it’s complete crap.  The chorus is nice and moves along well, and the young man is a good looking guy, who can carry a sound vocal.  The problem is definitely the song.  Though nice, it’s just not nice enough, and I don’t see it pulling big tricks out of the bag.  Sorry Israel!

 

 

An initial prediction will appear here soon.

 

 

A prediction will appear here when all 25 songs in the Grand Final are known.