Israel

By far one of the most successful countries from its early days at the Contest, Israel's debut came in 1973 in Luxembourg.  There, Ilanit's rendition of Ey Sham ("Somewhere") led to Israel capturing its first Top Five placement (coming in fourth with 97 points).  The debut's point total may not seem impressive these days, but remember that this was before the introduction of the douze points, having to sing in Hebrew (this was before the lifting of the language restrictions and during a time when French chansons were the victorious norm), and with winners being chosen after barely breaking the 100 point mark.

Israel's first win came in 1978 in Paris, after the introduction of the current point distribution system, with Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta's A-Ba-Ni-Bi ("I love you").   The event led to Jordanian television cutting off in mid-transmission when it became evident that the country was going to win, and declaring through its national media that Belgium had won the contest the next day (it had in fact come in a distant second).  When it was announced that the Contest would be held in Jerusalem the next year, the pressure from Yugoslavia and Turkey's Arab allies led the countries to withdraw from Eurovision (though Turkey caved to the pressure much later, after picking a national representative in the form of Maria Rita Epik & 21, whose song Seviyorum had to stay back).

Though the country was to host the next year, with the Contest scheduled during Israel's Day of Remembrance and with no allotted funds required for the hosting gig, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority passed, and the EBU declared The Hague as the hosts of Eurovision in 1980.  Israel withdrew from the 1980 Contest in order to observe the Day of Remembrance, and was quickly replaced with Morocco's one and only entry in the Contest with Samira Bensaid's Bitaqat Khub ("Love Message").  The country continued its success throughout the eighties with six Top Ten finishes, two of which were close second places.  Israel started off well in the early nineties, but withdrew from the Contest several times, returning to the stage in Birmingham in 1998 with Dana International's Diva.  That year's contest turned into a five-way diva-off, with Dana taking the trophy back to Israel, the result solidifying only after the dispensation of the last votes.  As the first and so far only openly transgender contestant, her participation had already ruffled serious feathers among the Orthodox communities within the country before the Contest.  The win turned into a cultural divide (some say war) between the secular and religious Israelis...here's the performance that caused all the ruckus (along with the allocation of the 8, 10 and 12 points):

The next decade saw Israel all over the score board (and not making the Final for the first time during the 2004 Istanbul Contest), but still managing to get two Top Five finishes along with one Top Ten placement in 2008, with The Fire In Your Eyes written by Dana and performed with the incredible vocals of Boaz.  Since then the country has either barely made it to the Final and finishing towards the bottom, or as has been the case in the past two years, not making it past the Semi Final (incidentally, one of those not-past-the Semi Final finishes -to the shock of most viewers- was with Dana returning to the Contest in Dusseldorf in 2011).  This year, Israel returns to the contest with young diva Moran Mazor, whose vocal talents led her to victory during K'dam, Israel's heavily competitive national song selection show (it is one of the most vigorous, along with Sweden and Norway's national competitions).  Moran will perform Rak bishvilo ("Only For Him") and, if politics don't play a role, should have no problem making it to the Final: