Israel was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "", composed by Shuki Levy, with lyrics by Shlomit Aharon and Yuval Dor, and performed by the band Habibi. The Israeli participating broadcaster, the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), selected its entry through 1981. IBA returned at the Eurovision Song Contest, after withdrawing from the because of National Day of Remembrance.
Before Eurovision
1981 The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) decided to replace the Israel Song Festival with a new competition designed to select a song for the contest.
The final was held on 3 March 1981 in Jerusalem, and was hosted by Daniel Pe'er. The votes of nine regional juries across Israel decided the winner.
The winning entry was "", performed by Hakol Over Habibi and composed by Shuki Levy, with lyrics written by Shlomit Aharon and Yuval Dor.
+ Final – 3 March 1981 Artist Song Points Place 1Eitan Masuri"Etmol" ()357 2Milk and Honey"Serenada" () 614 3Mike Burstyn"Sviv kol ha'olam" ()576 4Sexta"Cinderella" ()752 5Miri Aloni"Piyus" ()1110 6Irit Bulka"Mona Lisa" ()318 7Gary Eckstein"Aya ve Dan" ()412 8Hedva Amrani"Bo elai" ()249 9Shlomo Gronich & Dafna Armoni"Kaleidoscope" ()611 10Avi Toledano"Karnaval" ()693 11Hakol Over Habibi"Halayla" ()911 12Yigal Bashan"Ten li" ()585
+ Detailed Regional Jury Votes Song Total 1 "Etmol" 8 2 4 8 2 5 6 35 2 "Serenada" 10 6 6 7 8 7 7 3 7 61 3 "Sviv kol ha'olam" 4 5 5 12 10 5 4 10 2 57 4 "Cinderella" 12 7 8 5 5 12 12 2 12 75 5 "Piyus" 2 3 1 5 11 6 "Mona Lisa" 3 4 3 3 4 3 2 5 4 31 7 "Aya ve Dan" 1 1 1 1 4 8 "Bo elai" 2 3 1 1 4 3 4 6 24 9 "Kaleidoscope" 1 2 2 1 6 10 "Karnaval" 5 12 10 6 7 6 8 7 8 69 11 "Halayla" 7 8 12 10 12 10 10 12 10 91 12 "Ten li" 6 10 7 4 6 8 6 8 3 58
At Eurovision On the evening of the final Hakol Over Habibi, performing as Habibi, performed 5th in the running order, following and preceding . Shlomit Aharon, the band's soloist, was in about 6–7 months pregnant at the contest. At the close of voting "" had received 56 points, placing Israel seventh of the 20 entries. IBA appointed Dan Kaner as its spokesperson to announce the result of the Israeli vote in the final.
Voting
+ Points awarded to Israel Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Israel Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References