Israel won the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with Gali Atari and Milk and Honey’s “Hallelujah.”
The contest was held on 31 March 1979 at the Binyanei HaUma Convention Centre in Jerusalem. Israel’s entry was performed by Gali Atari with the vocal group Milk and Honey. The song was written by Kobi Oshrat, Shimrit Or and Gil Aldema.
“Hallelujah” finished first with 125 points, ahead of Spain and France. Its victory gave Israel a second consecutive win, following Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta’s triumph with “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” in 1978. Israel therefore became the first country to win Eurovision in back-to-back contests after hosting the following edition.
The song’s title is a Hebrew-derived word widely used in religious and musical contexts, but the entry itself was performed in Hebrew. A common mistake is to associate the contest with Greece or Cyprus because both countries have had strong Eurovision histories; neither won the 1979 competition.