Aftermath (14): Netta gives Israel first win in 20 years

Netta Barzilai Israel Eurovision 2018

In the last aftermath article of the series, we look back at how the eventual winner from Israel, Netta won the contest, and in doing so, giving Israel their first victory in the contest in 20 years, taking their total win tally to 4.

In the run up to the live shows, Netta became well known for the infamous ‘chicken’ dance and clucking noises in her song. Netta battled hard to win the over all title, after being neck and neck the majority of the tele-points race in the Grand Final against Cyprus.

Her song pays respect to the #metoo movement, with the main message being that women are not toys for men to just play with. She portrays that message well in the chorus of the song ’Toy’. Netta won semi final 1 with 283, beating 2nd place Cyprus by 21 points, and in the Grand Final, Netta won with 529 points, beating Cyprus by 93 points.

 

Winner’s reaction

One quote from Netta that made headlines was the following:

I’m so happy! Thank you so much for choosing different. Thank you so much for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity. Thank you! I love my country!

However, after her win, she caused some controversy by immediately suggesting that Eurovision will be in Jerusalem in 2019. Will it? Won’t it? Only time will tell. For the moment, read our article on what we do know so far about Eurovision 2019.