Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Leha'amin" written by David D'Or, Ofer Meiri and Ehud Manor. The song was performed by David D'Or, who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to compete at the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. The song D'Or would perform at Eurovision was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2004 that took place on 5 February 2004 and featured four songs. "Leha'amin" emerged as the winning song after gaining the most points following the combination of a jury vote, an audience vote and a public televote.

Israel competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2004. Performing during the show in position 5, "Leha'amin" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Israel placed eleventh out of the 22 participating countries in the semi-final with 57 points.

Background
Prior to the 2004 contest, Israel had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-six times since its first entry in 1973. Israel has won the contest on three occasions: in 1978 with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in 1979 with the song "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey and in 1998 with the song "Diva" performed by Dana International. Their 2003 entry "Words for Love" performed by Lior Narkis placed nineteenth.

The Israeli national broadcaster, Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had been in charge of the nation's participation in the contest since its debut in 1973. IBA confirmed Israel's participation in the contest on 18 September 2003. To select the Israeli entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, IBA conducted an internal selection to select the artist that would represent Israel and a national final to select the song for the artist.

Artist selection
On 13 November 2003, IBA announced that David D'Or was selected by a special committee consisting of music industry professionals and public representatives as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Among artists that were highly considered before D'Or was ultimately selected included Hamsa, Ninet Tayeb, Zehava Ben and Ron Shoval. The members of the committee were Avraham Natan (Chairman of IBA), Yaakov Shaham (Chairman of IBA), Rachel Kremerman (member of the IBA Executive Committee), Menachem Granit (Director of entertainment at Kol Yisrael), Yossi Meshulam (programme director of Channel 1), Izchak Sonnenschein (Head of Israeli Eurovision delegation), Yossi Elias (Rating), Eti Abramov (Yedioth Ahronoth), Hana Goldberg (lyricist), Yaakov Naveh (singer), Ezra Suleiman (CEO of the Israeli Mediterranean Music Association), Lior Narkis (2003 Israeli Eurovision entrant), Gali Atari (Eurovision Song Contest 1979 winner) and Liel Kolet (singer).

Kdam Eurovision 2004
The song that David D'Or represented Israel with in Istanbul was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2004. Four songs were chosen from over 250 submissions by the committee and announced on 19 January 2004. Performances of the four competing songs were filmed earlier on 18 January 2004 and presented on 5 February 2004 during a break in a televised Maccabi Tel Aviv Euroleague basketball game at the Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv, hosted by Merav Miller and broadcast on Channel 1. The winning song, "Leha'amin", was selected by a combination of the votes from the committee members (40%), the audience at the game (30%) and a public televote conducted through telephone and SMS (30%). The audience vote registered approximately 1,000 votes, while the televote registered approximately 25,000 votes. The basketball game was watched by 227,000 viewers in Israel with a market share of 13.7%.

At Eurovision
It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 23 March 2004, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Israel was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Latvia and before the entry from Andorra. During the rehearsal week of the contest, David D'Or left Istanbul to be with his father, who had to have one of his legs amputated due to complications of diabetes. His father has since died. At the end of the semi-final, Israel was not announced among the top 10 entries and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Israel placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 57 points.

The semi-final received a market share of 19% in Israel, while the final received a market share of 11% in Israel. Both shows were televised live on Channel 1. The Israeli spokesperson, who announced the Israeli votes during the final, was Merav Miller.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Israel and awarded by Israel in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Greece in the semi-final and to Ukraine in the final of the contest.