Israel's Netta Barzilai to perform at Eurovision in May

Israeli pop diva Netta Barzilai will perform during the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in May in Liverpool, according to an announcement from the BBC.

Barzilai, who won Eurovision in 2018 with the song, “Toy,” will be one of six iconic past Eurovision acts to perform. The others will be Italy's Mahmood, Iceland's Daði Freyr, Sweden's Cornelia Jakobs and Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands, as well as Liverpool's own Sonia, who is celebrating 30 years since she came second at Eurovision in 1993. The invited singers will perform Eurovision classics, as well as their own songs.

Last year, the Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine won the contest and normally the next year’s event is held in the home country of the winning act, dut due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was decided that the UK would host, since their 2022 entrant, Sam Ryder, took second place.

Israeli Eurovision history

Noa Kirel, who was chosen this year to represent Israel, will perform her song, "Unicorn" on May 9, when the first semi-final will be held. Kirel was placed in the line-up for song number nine, which is considered a good opening spot.

The highly watched betting tables have consistently placed Kirel in the top 10 and currently she is in sixth place. The final will take place on May 13.  

Israel has a long and proud history with Eurovision, and has been competing in the song contest for 50 years. In addition to Barzilai’s win, Israel took first place in 1978, with “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta, in 1979 with “Hallelujah” by Milk and Honey and in 1998 with the song, “Diva,” by the trans artist, Dana International.