With a final score of 343, Israel’s Noam Bettan took second place at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, with his song, Michelle.
Despite mass calls to boycott due to Israel’s participation, which led to several countries withdrawing from the contest entirely, Israel scored a whopping 220 points from the public televote, including securing the maximum 12 from six separate countries.
Israel won the televote in Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Azerbaijan, and France.
The grand jury awarded Israel 123 points, twice as many as Yuval Rephael’s New Day Will Rise from last year. Poland’s grand jury awarded Israel its coveted ‘douze points’ (12 points).
Who voted for Israel?
Israel received televote points from across Europe and beyond, with Estonia and Luxembourg each awarding one point, Latvia and Montenegro giving four points each, Greece giving five, and the “rest of the world” vote adding six points.
Several countries split their support between juries and the public vote. Norway gave Israel one jury point and five televote points, while Czechia awarded two jury points and five televote points. San Marino gave four jury points and three televote points, Serbia awarded four points from both its jury and televote, and Belgium gave one jury point and eight televote points.
Denmark awarded Israel seven jury points and two televote points, while Malta gave four jury points and seven televote points. Bulgaria awarded seven jury points and five televote points, Romania gave six points from both its jury and televote, and Armenia gave seven points from each.
Israel’s strongest public-vote showings came from Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Azerbaijan, and France, each of which awarded Israel the maximum 12 televote points. Cyprus and Italy each gave Israel eight televote points, Sweden gave seven, and the UK awarded 10.
Among the juries, Poland gave Israel the coveted 12 points, while Ukraine awarded 10. Lithuania, Austria, Albania, and Moldova each gave Israel eight jury points, Georgia gave six, and Croatia gave five. Switzerland added two jury points to its 12 televote points, Germany gave three jury points alongside its 12 televote points, and both Azerbaijan and France gave four jury points in addition to their maximum televote scores.
Georgia awarded Israel six jury points and 10 televote points, while Albania and Moldova each gave eight jury points and 10 televote points.
Israel has been a major player in Eurovision since it began taking part in 1973, and has won four times, in 1978, 1979, 1998, and 2018.
Israel has ranked in the top 5 for the past several years, with Yuval Rephael’s New Day Will Rise, Eden Golan’s Hurricane, and Noa Kirel’s Unicorn all receiving high marks from the public over juries.