Israel confirmed that they will no longer take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, live during Saturday’s (13 May) show.
It was recently revealed that the country’s state run channel Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) is being shut down, and while Israel’s representative was giving their scores in the results section of Saturday’s show, they shared the news.
“This is IBA Channel 1, calling from Jerusalem,” the representative said. “For the past 44 years, Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, winning three times.
“But tonight is our final night. Shortly, IBA will shut down its broadcasting forever, so on behalf of all of us here at IBA, let me say thank you Europe for all the magical moments.
“Hopefully, we shall meet again in the future.”
The contest was won by Portugal, who stormed ahead with over 700 points.
The UK’s entry Lucie Jones was also successful - by our standards... - and ended up in 15th place.