After an especially dramatic final, Noam Bettan and “Michelle” climbed to the top of the leaderboard and finished Eurovision 2026 in second place. After years in which most jury panels across Europe chose not to award points to Israel, this year the majority did give Israel points.
At the end of the contest, Israel received 123 points from the juries, placing it eighth in their rankings. In the public vote, Israel performed even better, finishing second with 220 points. In total, Israel earned 343 points.
Aside from one set of “douze points” from Poland, 22 of the 34 jury panels excluding Israel awarded points to Bettan and “Michelle.” Those countries were Switzerland, Malta, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Estonia, Germany, Belgium, Albania, Georgia, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Norway, Serbia, Moldova, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania and Austria.
Last year, at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Yuval Raphael finished second with “New Day Will Rise,” earning 357 points, including 297 from viewers and only 60 from the juries. Raphael received 13 sets of “douze points” from viewers and one set of 12 points from the Azerbaijani jury. In the public vote, three countries — Poland, Armenia and Croatia — gave Raphael no points at all. Jury panels in 22 countries did not award Israel any points that year.
At Eurovision 2024, Eden Golan finished fifth with “Hurricane,” earning 375 points overall, including 323 from the public and 52 from the juries. Golan received 15 sets of “douze points” from viewers and none from any jury panel. In the public vote, only two countries gave Israel no points in 2024. Jury panels in 25 countries chose not to award Israel any points.
At Eurovision 2023, Noa Kirel finished third with “Unicorn,” earning 362 points, including 185 from viewers and 177 from the juries. Kirel received four sets of “douze points” from the public. “Unicorn” also received 12 points from juries in five countries. In the public vote, seven countries gave Israel no points, while juries in 11 countries chose not to award Kirel any points.
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Bulgaria's Eurovision representative with the trophy after the announcement of her win
(Photo: Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
After the Grand Final result announcement, Israeli delegation members told ynet that “had we won, it would have broken Eurovision. Second place is a win for us,” referring to the intense tension surrounding Israel’s participation in this year’s contest and the political controversy that accompanied it.
Even before the grand final began, a senior member of the Israeli delegation approached a senior official at the European Broadcasting Union and asked what would happen if Israel were to win the contest. The EBU official smiled but declined to answer.