Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "The Fire in Your Eyes performed by Boaz Mauda. The song, originally titled as "Ke'ilu Kan", was composed by Dana International (winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1998) and Shai Kerem.
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Country | ![]() | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Artist: Internal Selection Song: Kdam Eurovision 2008 | |||
Selection date(s) | Artist: 14 November 2007 Song: 25-26 January 2008 | |||
Selected entrant | Boaz Mauda | |||
Selected song | "The Fire in Your Eyes" | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Semi-final result | Qualified (5th, 104 points) | |||
Final result | 9th, 124 points | |||
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
|
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
On 14 February 2008, IBA announced that Boaz Mauda, winner of the fifth season of Kokhav Nolad (Israeli version of Pop Idol), was selected as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
Kdam Eurovision 2008
The song that Boaz Mauda represented Israel with in Belgrade was selected through a national final called Kdam Eurovision 2008. IBA opened the song submission period with the deadline on 6 January 2008. 450 songs were submitted, and five of the songs were selected by a jury panel for the competition.[1]
The final took place over two days on 25 and 26 February 2008 at the Ulpaneii TV Studios in Herzeliya, hosted by Tzvika Hadar. All songs were performed by Boaz Mauda and the winning song was determined by a combination of the votes from public SMS voting and five jury groups made up of two regional juries, members from OGAE Israel, judges from Kochav Nolad, and an expert jury of members from IBA and Keshet.[2][3]
Final – 26 February 2008 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Draw | Artist | Song (English translation) | Songwriter(s) | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
1 | Boaz Mauda | "Masa Hayai" (Journey of my life) | Itay Pearl | 52 | 30 | 82 | 5 |
2 | Boaz Mauda & Maya Avraham | "Hine HaOr" (Here is the light) | Ovadia Hamama | 64 | 20 | 84 | 4 |
3 | Boaz Mauda | "Bli Ahava" (Without love) | Henree | 80 | 40 | 120 | 2 |
4 | Boaz Mauda & Oshrat Papir | "Parparim" (Butterflies) | Doron Gal | 60 | 50 | 110 | 3 |
5 | Boaz Mauda | "Ke'ilu Kan" (As if here) | Dana International, Shai Kerem | 104 | 60 | 164 | 1 |
Detailed Jury Votes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Draw | Song | Regional Juries | OGAE | Kochav Nolad |
Expert Jury |
Total | |
Kiryat Shmona |
Sderot | ||||||
1 | "Masa Hayai" | 4 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 20 | 52 |
2 | "Hine HaOr" | 6 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 64 |
3 | "Bli Ahava" | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 50 | 80 |
4 | "Parparim" | 10 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 30 | 60 |
5 | "Ke'ilu Kan" | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 60 | 104 |
At Eurovision

Points Awarded by Israel[4]
Semi-Final 1
|
Final
|
12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
References
- Barak, Itamar (January 23, 2008). "Kdam on 25th-26th February, Mauda's songs revealed". Esctoday.
- "ISRAELI NATIONAL FINAL 2008".
- Royston, Benny (February 26, 2008). "Live: Israel decides for Eurovision 2008". Esctoday.
- Eurovision Song Contest 2008