With a final score of 343, Israel’s Noam Bettan took second place at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, with his song, Michelle.
Despite mass calls to boycott due to Israel’s participation, which led to several countries withdrawing from the contest entirely, Israel scored a whopping 220 points from the public televote, including securing the maximum 12 from six separate countries.
Israel won the televote in Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Azerbaijan, and France.
The grand jury awarded Israel 123 points, twice as many as Yuval Rephael’s New Day Will Rise from last year. Poland’s grand jury awarded Israel its coveted ‘douze points’ (12 points).
Here is the full breakdown of points awarded to Israel at this year’s Eurovision:
Estonia: Televote, 1
Luxemburg: Televote, 1
Latvia: Televote, 4
Montenegro: Televote, 4
Greece: Televote, 5
Croatia: Jury, 5
Norway: Jury, 1; Televote, 5
Rest of the world: 6 points
Czechia: Jury, 2; Televote, 5
Sweden: Televote, 7
San Marino: Jury, 4; Televote, 3
Cyprus: Televote, 8
Italy: Televote, 8
Lithuania: Jury, 8
Serbia: Jury, 4; Televote, 4
Belgium: Jury, 1; Televote, 8
Denmark: Jury, 7; Televote, 2
UK: Televote, 10
Malta: Jury, 4; Televote, 7
Bulgaria: Jury, 7; Televote, 5
Finland: Televote, 12
Portugal: Televote, 12
Romania: Jury, 6; Televote, 6
Armenia: Jury, 7; Televote, 7
Switzerland: Jury, 2; Televote, 12
Poland: Jury, 12; Televote, 2
Austria: Jury, 8; Televote, 7
Germany: Jury, 3; Televote, 12
Ukraine: Jury, 10; Televote, 5
Azerbaijan: Jury, 4; Televote, 12
France: Jury, 4; Televote, 12
Georgia: Jury, 6; Televote, 10
Albania: Jury, 8; Televote, 10
Moldova: Jury, 8; Televote, 10
Israel has been a major player in Eurovision since it began taking part in 1973, and has won four times, in 1978, 1979, 1998, and 2018.
Israel has ranked in the top 5 for the past several years, with Yuval Rephael’s New Day Will Rise, Eden Golan’s Hurricane, and Noa Kirel’s Unicorn all receiving high marks from the public over juries.