| Year: | 2002 |
| Country: | Israel |
| Preselection: | Internal selection |
| Preselection Date: | Artist: 26 November 2001 Song: 26 February 2002 |
| Entrant: | Sarit Hadad |
| Song: | Light a Candle |
| Final Result: | 12th, 37 points |
Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Light a Candle" written by Svika Pick and Yoav Ginai. The song was performed by Sarit Hadad, who was internally selected by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in November 2001 to compete at the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. The song Hadad would perform at Eurovision, "Light a Candle", was also internally selected and presented to the public on 26 February 2002 during the Meni Peer Show which was broadcast on Channel 1.
Israel competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2002. Performing during the show in position 10, Israel placed twelfth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 37 points.
See main article: Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 2002 contest, Israel had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since its first entry in 1973.[1] Israel has won the contest on three occasions: in 1978 with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in 1979 with the song "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey and in 1998 with the song "Diva" performed by Dana International. Their 2001 entry "En Davar" performed by Tal Sondak placed sixteenth.
The Israeli national broadcaster, Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had been in charge of the nation's participation in the contest since its debut in 1973. IBA confirmed Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 on 19 July 2001.[2] To select the Israeli entry for 2002, IBA conducted an internal selection to select both the artist and song that would represent Israel due to high costs of producing the Kdam Eurovision national final.[3]
On 26 November 2001, IBA announced that Sarit Hadad was selected by a special committee as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. Among artists considered by the selection committee, Gaia and Zehava Ben were highly considered before Hadad was ultimately selected.[4] The members of the committee were Yala Granot (member of the IBA Executive Committee), Aviva Avidan (singer), Yigal Hared (musician and composer), Izhar Cohen (Eurovision Song Contest 1978 winner and 1985 Israeli Eurovision entrant), Ezra Suleiman (CEO of the Israeli Mediterranean Music Association), Haïm Ulliel (singer), Tal Perry (journalist), Amos Oren (journalist), Nava Achiron (Channel 1 music editor), Gavri Mazor (composer), Noam Gil-Or (Kol Yisrael editor and presenter), Tal Gordon (singer) and Avihu Medina (composer).[5]
Four songs were later submitted by Sarit Hadad and subsequently evaluated by the committee on 24 December 2001.[6] The selected song, "Nadlik Beyakhad Ner", was announced on 7 January 2002 and presented on 26 February 2002 during the Meni Peer Show which was broadcast on Channel 1.[7] [8] "Nadlik Beyakhad Ner" was written by Yoav Ginai and Svika Pick, who had previously written the Israeli Eurovision Song Contest 1998 winning song "Diva", and was later retitled as "Light a Candle".[9] In regards to the song, Sarit Hadad stated: "The song is appropriate to these times and situation and it has a meesage of hope. I'll sing it from the bottom of my heart. It gives me a chance to express my voice and feelings." Hadad later revealed that the song "Mr. DJ Superman", which placed second in the committee voting, was her personal favorite among the four she provided for the contest.
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Malcat Hadisco" (Hebrew: מלכת הדיסקו) | Svika Pick, Ehud Manor | 90 | 3 | |
| "Mr. DJ Superman" | Svika Pick, Yoav Ginai | 144 | 2 | |
| "Nadlik Beyakhad Ner" (Hebrew: נדליק ביחד נר) | Svika Pick, Yoav Ginai | 150 | 1 | |
| "Yasu Yasu" (Hebrew: יאסו יאסו) | Sarit Hadad, David Zigman | 90 | 3 |
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 took place at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia, on 25 May 2002.[10] The participants list included the previous year's winning country, the "Big Four" countries, consisting of,, and the, any eligible countries which did not compete in the 2001 contest, and countries which had obtained the highest average points total at the previous year's contest, up to 24 total participants.[11] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the 2001 contest competed in the final. On 9 November 2001, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Israel was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Macedonia and before the entry from Switzerland. Israel finished in twelfth place with 37 points.[12]
The show, which was televised live in Israel on Channel 1, received a market share of 34.6% and was the second most watched programme of 2002 in the country.[13] The Israeli spokesperson, who announced the Israeli votes during the show, was Michal Zo'aretz.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Israel and awarded by Israel in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Latvia in the contest.[14]