Eurovision Song Contest Israel 1979

After Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta won the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with A-Ba-Ni-Bi, the 1979 contest was held in Jerusalem, Israel. It was the first time Israel hosted the contest, and the first contest held outside Europe. The final was held on 31 March in the Ussishkin Auditorium of the International Convention Centre, the host broadcaster was the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the presenters were Daniel Pe’er and Yardena Arazi. 19 countries took part. Turkey did not enter after pressure from Arab countries not to take part in a contest held in Israel, and Yugoslavia, which had missed the two previous contests, was also absent.

Milk and Honey from Israel won with Hallelujah and 125 points, 9 points ahead of Spain’s Su canción by Betty Missiego. France’s Je suis l’enfant soleil was third. It was the second victory in a row and the second in total for Israel. Each country’s jury gave 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points to its top ten; this was the last contest in which the countries announced their points in the order of performance rather than from the lowest to the highest.

Sources: Wikipedia: Eurovision Song Contest 1979 (host broadcaster, presenters, participants, voting).