Israel's first appearance in the contest in 1973 was successful, with "Ey Sham" performed by Ilanit finishing fourth.

Israel then achieved victories in 1978 and 1979, with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, and "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey.

In 2005, "HaSheket SheNish'ar" by Shiri Maimon gave the country its tenth top five result, finishing fourth.

On home ground in Jerusalem the following year, Israel won again, this time with "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey.

The date chosen for that year's contest coincided with Yom HaZikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, so Israel could not compete.

Avi Toledano (1982) and Ofra Haza (1983) scored well with big revivalist numbers, but the all-singing, all-dancing style became less popular later in the decade and Israel's 1986 entry, "Yavo Yom" by Moti Giladi and Sarai Tzuriel, came in 19th.

Then-Israeli Minister of Culture, Yitzhak Navon, said he would resign if the song went on to represent Israel at the contest; this ultimately did not occur.

Ping-Pong's disco effort in 2000 failed, though the group was noted for their optimistic lyrics and message of reconciliation and peace.

Their humorous entry "Push the Button" finished in 24th place out of a semi-final field of 28 and failed to reach the final.

In 2009, an Arab citizen of Israel represented the country for the first time, as Mira Awad performed "There Must Be Another Way" alongside Jewish-Israeli singer Noa in Moscow.

Israel's participations from 2011 to 2014 were less successful, as former Eurovision winner Dana International in Düsseldorf, the band Izabo in Baku, Moran Mazor in Malmö and Mei Finegold in Copenhagen, all failed to qualify for the final.

In 2015, Nadav Guedj brought Israel back to the final with "Golden Boy", the first Israeli entry without a Hebrew lyric.

Following the cancellation of the 2020 edition, she was retained as the Israeli representative for 2021, this time with "Set Me Free", which went on to finish in 17th place in the final.

When it became apparent during the later stages of the voting sequence that Israel was going to win the contest, JRTV abruptly ended the transmission.

[73] Afterwards, Jordanian news media refused to acknowledge Israel's victory, and announced that the winner was Belgium (which had actually come in second).

[75][76] Tunisia intended to participate in 1977, but opted not to do so in the end; Lebanon also intended to participate in 2005 but later withdrew (incurring a fine by the EBU) because Lebanese law does not allow the promotion of Israeli content, and consequently Lebanese television was not allowed to transmit the Israeli entry – which would have been a violation of the contest's rules.