Israel Rising Star: 20 artists in the run for Kyiv 2017

The Israeli entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will be decided on Monday 13 February 2017, in the talent show "The Next Star for Eurovision" (לאירוויזיון הַכּוֹכָב הַבָּא), also known as "Rising Star".

Rising Star was also used the last two years to select the Israeli entry for Eurovision. Rising Star consists of 10 shows, which commenced on 2 January 2017 and concludes on Monday 13 February 2017 with the final.

The final audition round took place tonight, and we now have the 20 artists for the quarter-finals of Rising Star 2017:

Rising Star 2017 – Quarter-finalists

• Beatbox Element
• Beta Zinc
• Chen Maximov
• Chen Zimerman & Noy Eisen
• David Vanesyan
• Diana Golbi
• Elayev Family
• Hallelujah (Halli) Lewis
• Helen Kalandze
• Imri Ziv
• Judy Layne
• Julietta
• Lee Sabach
• Osher Biton
• Ron Buchbut
• Sapir Nahon
• Ta-La-Te
• Yona Shabin
• Yonit Zaidenberg
• Yosef Gal

The judges will judge the 20 quarter-finalists behind closed doors, and select 8 to proceed.

Rising Star 2017 – הכוכב הבא לאירוויזיון

The talent show The Next Star for Eurovision (הכוכב הבא לאירוויזיון) in Israel, or known as "Rising Star" international, is an interactive song contest. The winner of the show will represent Israel in Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv.

• Aspiring artists were invited to perform in front of a jury.
• After the song, the jury decided if the song would go to the next level.
• Contestants who did move forward to the next level then sang in front of an audience.
• Through an app the viewers voted for the song in real time, if it should pass or fail.

Rising Star 2017 – Schedule

• 2 January 2017: Auditions
• 3 January 2017: Auditions
• 9 January 2017: Auditions
• 16 January 2017: Auditions
• 24 January 2017: Auditions

Eight artists will be selected by the judges to proceed to the quarter-final

• 30 January 2017: Quarter-final (part 1)
• 31 January 2017: Quarter-final (part 2)

The top-6 qualifies to the semi-final

• 6 February 2017: Semi-final (part 1)
• 7 February 2017: Semi-final (part 2)

The top-4 qualifies to the final

• 13 February 2017: Final

Israel in Eurovision Song Contest

Israel has participated 39 times in Eurovision since debut in 1973. They have won the contest three times:

• 1978: Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta - "Abanibi"
• 1979: Milk and Honey - "Hallelujah"
• 1998: Dana International - "Diva"

Israel has never ended last in the contest! Since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Israel qualified for the Grand Final 7 out of 13 times.