However, according to Kobi Oshrat (the conductor and arranger behind several entries that year, including the eventual winner),[2] all the music had been pre-recorded, and the musicians in the pit were miming, as the IBA did not have the budget for effective sound quality.

Also competing, as he had in several prior selections, was Svika Pick, who would later write "Diva" with Yoav Ginai and help Dana International secure Israel's third Eurovision win eleven years later.

Dafna Dekel, who represented Israel in 1992 with the song "Ze Rak Sport" and co-hosted the 1999 contest, appeared here as a member of Dorit & Friends.

However, to great surprise, it was Datner and Kushnir's novelty song "Shir Habatlanim", an ode to the virtues of an easygoing life sung by the duo in Blues Brothers-inspired outfits, that took the lead by thirteen points over frequent national finalist Ilana Avital and earned the right to fly the Israeli flag in Brussels.

As one of many apocryphal stories regarding Israel's Eurovision history goes, the Minister of Culture (later clarified to be Yitzhak Navon) threatened to resign if the duo remained the Israeli representatives.

[4] The Blues Brothers comparison was also made by British commentator Terry Wogan, who dubbed "Shir Habatlanim", perhaps flippantly, "a simple song of love" following their performance.