On April 3-5, 2017 Israel was getting ahead of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest by hosting a mini competition in Tel Aviv featuring 43 contestants as part of its “Israel Calling” initiative. The initiative is organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tourism Ministry for the 2nd year in a row. All contestants are invited to tour Israel and perform in a preview concert. This year the acts from Ireland, Denmark, Latvia, Armenia, Macedonia, San Marino, Norway, Lithuania, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Malta, Serbia, Georgia, Belarus, Finland, Poland and France (some performing in duos or groups) took part – of course accompanied by Israel’s entry Imri Ziv.

 

Tali Eshkoli created and spearheaded the event: “Last year, we had an amazing reaction, amazing feedback. All of them went back to their countries very excited. […] In Eurovision, you can’t vote for your own country, so you must have some votes from other countries. So it’s in their interest to come and expose themselves and the song to the Israeli audience.”

 

The participants – many of them visiting Israel for the first time – toured Tel Aviv, spent a day in Jerusalem, enjoyed a yacht cruise from the Herzliya Marina and took part in the tree-planting event in the “Eurovision Forest” that was initiated last year in the President’s Forest near Beit Shemesh.

 

They also shared their joy on Twitter and Instagram: Montenegrin entry Slavko tweeted: I am deeply moved! This was night not to forget! Hardly wait to perform tomorrow! #israelcalling #space #montenegro #wecanbeasone Love, S xx.

Israel has won the competition three times in its 39 performances: 1978’s A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Alphabeta, 1979’s Hallelujah by Gali Atari and 1998’s Diva by Dana International. Imri Ziv will represent Israel in Kyiv this May with his song “I feel alive”.