Israel’s representative, Noam Bettan, finished in second place for the second straight year thanks to a strong and emotional vocal performance. He captivated the crowd in the arena, which loudly cheered him from the moment he stepped onto the stage, with the applause drowning out the minor boos. Bettan ended the performance by thanking Europe and declaring, “Am Yisrael Chai!”
Israel received 220 points from the public and 123 points from the juries: 12 points from Poland, 10 points from Ukraine and Moldova, 8 points from Albania, Lithuania and Austria, 7 points from Bulgaria, Armenia and Denmark, 6 points from Georgia and Romania, 5 points from Croatia, 4 points from Malta, Azerbaijan, San Marino, France and Serbia, 3 points from Germany, 2 points from Switzerland and the Czech Republic and 1 point from Belgium and Norway.
Noam Bettan performing the song "Michelle" - Eurovision 2026, Vienna
(Photo: Courtesy of Kan, the Israel Broadcasting Corporation and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU))
Unlike recent years, when juries largely boycotted the Israeli representative, most jury panels awarded points to Israel this time.
Israel awarded its “douze points” — 12 points — to Australia, 10 points to Denmark, 8 points to Bulgaria, 7 to Finland, 6 to Moldova, 5 to Greece, 4 to Romania, 3 to Italy, 2 points to Belgium and 1 point to Albania.
During the evening, Bettan went live on his Instagram account. “I want to say thank you to everyone for your love and support, it means so much to me. We need you to vote number 3. Vote for Israel, vote for ‘Michel’, I love you all,” he said.
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Noam Bettan and the Israeli delegation during the scoring
(Photo: AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
After finishing his performance, Betan added: “I was really worried at first. I hope — I don’t know how it sounded from the outside — but I want you to tell me how it was. Overall, I felt good on stage, I honestly felt completely fine. I just wanted to give my 100%, and that’s exactly what I tried to do. Honestly, it’s the biggest stage and I had an amazing time. Now we just have to wait for the results and see what happens next. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone, thank all the audience at home for the support and strength you give me. I love you!”
Yoav Tzafir, director of the Israeli delegation, told ynet: “One of Israel’s best Eurovision performances. We did our part and the lines are still open for another two hours. Noam deserves to win. I’m proud of him. He is our diamond.”
“Noam gave a phenomenal performance,” Tzlil Kalifi, one of the writers of “Michel”, told ynet. “We were incredibly emotional and now we’re waiting for the votes. Am Yisrael Chai.”
First published: 02:11, 05.17.26