Although Israel doesn't belong to Europe geographically is has been a member of the EBU for some time, as well as Cyprus, which gives the country the right to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It is hard to imagine the Eurovision without Israel - it has always been represented by singers who were, or still are big in their home country Israel - like Rita with "Share Barechovot" (Zagreb 1990), Izhar Cohen with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (Paris 1979) and "Ole Ole" (1985 Gothenburg), or "Hi" sung by Ofra Haza (1983 in Munich). With a brilliant stage performance, great choreography and strong singers, Israel often did well and was able to win the Contest three times so far.

This year the Israeli TV-station IBA has chosen the popular singer David D'Or internally - later in a TV show the song was chosen by a jury of former Israeli Eurovision participants as well as the general public via tele-votes. The song, which was finally chosen is called "Le'ha'amin" and is also David's favourite song. David D'Or has released 6 albums already and has been voted Singer Of The Year in 2001. David is a trained tenor and has sung almost anything from opera to pop and has also worked with well-known orchestras all over the world - including singing for the Pope at the Vatican.

There has been a lot of discussion in Israel about the Eurovision's new voting system and the idea of a qualifying round but nevertheless Israel has to participate in the qualifying round first in order to maybe make it to the final. What a disadvantage because the song is fascinating and impressive and David's voice very strong - they might easily finish on a top spot once they've made it to the final. Shalom Israel!