• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 31 March 1979 – 20:00 CET
• Host – Venue & Location: Binyanei Ha’ouama Centre (Binyenei HaUma, בנייני האומה, Buildings of the nation; International Convention Center, מרכז הקונגרסים הבינלאומי, Merkaz HaKongresim HaBeinLeumi), Jerusalem, 🇮🇱 Israel
• Presenter (s): Yardena Arazi (ירדנה ארזי) & Daniel Peer (דניאל פאר)
• Musical Director: Izhak Graziani (יצחק גרציאני)
• Director: Yossi Zemach
• Executive Producer: Alex Gilady (אלכס גלעדי)
• Executive Supervisor: Frank Naef
• Multicamera Director: —
• Host broadcaster: Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
• Opening Act: L’envol by Vladimir Cosma
• Interval Act: Shalom ’79 (Peace ’79)
• Participants – Number of entries: 19 [🇧🇪 Belgium (21ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (21ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (21ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (21ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (21ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (19ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (18ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (16ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (12ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (20ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (15ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (16ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (12ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (4ª), 🇫🇷 France (21ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (17ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (3ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (17ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (12ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: 🇹🇷 Turkey (2ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song:  “Hallelujah” – Gali Atari & Milk & Honey – Israele) (2ª)

About. The 24th Eurovision Song Contest was held outside the geographical area of Europe for the first time. Jerusalem played the proud host of the annual event in 1979.

Familar faces. Jerusalem was this year’s host city that welcomed 19 different delegations. Turkey withdrew from the contest because it took place in Israel and many Arab countries put pressure on Turkey not to go to Jerusalem. There were lots of familiar faces in 1979. Peter, Sue & Marc returned for Switzerland after representing the country in 1976. Anne-Marie David, the 1973 winner for Luxembourg, represented France, and Anita Skorgan sang again for Norway. The German entry, performed by band Dschinghis Khan also went on to become a hit in several European countries, despite being heavily criticised in Germany itself. The Swiss contestants Peter, Sue & Marc had difficulties getting into the country and had to explain to customs exactly why they needed so many watering cans, hoses, bin bags and bottle openers which were needed for their unique performance on the Jerusalem stage. The Belgian singer Micha Marah was very unhappy with her song “Hey Nana” as this was selected against her will in the Belgian pre-selection. She refused to record the song and it remains one of the few songs in Eurovision Song Contest that does not have a studio-version. Monaco decided to withdraw from the contest after their singer Laurent Vaguener only reached 16th place. The principality would only return again 25 years later, in 2004.

About the winner. Israel won for the second time in a row with the song “Hallelujah” which became a Europe-wide hit. Spain was the last country to cast its votes. At that moment Spain was in the lead with 1 point ahead of Israel, but the Spanish 10 points gave Israel its second victory.

o/r	country	participant(s)	song – translate – Language	Points	rank
01	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Manuela Bravo	Sobe, sobe balão sobe (Rise, rise, balloon, rise) Portuguese	064	09
02	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Matia Bazar	Raggio di luna (Moonbeam) Italian	027	15
03	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Tommy Seebach	Disco Tango Danish	076	06
04	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Cathal Dunne	Happy Man English	080	05
05	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Katri-Helena	Katson sineen taivaan (I’m looking into the blue of the sky) Finnish	038	14
06	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Laurent Vaguener	Notre vie c’est la musique (Our life is music) French	012	16
07	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Elpida	Sokrati (Σωκράτη, Socrates) Greek	069	08
08	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Peter, Sue and Marc & Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri	Trödler und Co. (Second-handers and Co.) German	060	10
09	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Dschinghis Khan	Dschinghis khan (Genghis Khan) German	086	04
10	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Milk and Honey (גלי עטריודבש וחלב, Gali Atari & Milk and Honey)	Hallelujah (הללויה) Hebrew	125	01
11	🇫🇷 France TF1	Anne-Marie David	Je suis l’enfant-soleil (I’m the sun-child) French	106	03
12	🇧🇪 Belgium BRT	Micha Marah	Hey nana Dutch	005	18
13	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Jeane Manson	J’ai déja vu ça dans tes yeux (I’ve already seen that in your eyes) French	044	13
14	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Xandra	Colorado Dutch	051	12
15	🇸🇪 Sweden SR	Ted Gärdestad	Satellit (Satellite) Swedish	008	17
16	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Anita Skorgan	Oliver Norwegian	057	11
17	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Black Lace	Mary Ann English	073	07
18	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Christina Simon	Heute in Jerusalem (Today in Jerusalem) German	005	18
19	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Betty Missiego	Su canción (Your song) Spanish	116	02

Missed participation:

• 🇹🇷 Turkey: “Seviyorum” (I Love) (Turkish) – Maria Rita Epik & 21.Peron. Epik had won the internal Turkish pre-Elimination in 1979 to sing for Turkey at the first ever Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Israel. However due to political reasons and pressure by Arabic countries, to boycott Israel, she had to withdraw and stay at home, instead of having a chance to get a European career. She would have sung “Seviyorum” (I Love) together with the band 21.Peron.

Participation map

Participating countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 1979

ESC 1979 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results: 

The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country’s victory at the 1978 contest with the song “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the contest was held at the International Convention Centre on 31 March 1979 and was hosted by Israeli television presenter Daniel Pe’er and singer Yardena Arazi. This was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was held outside Europe.

Nineteen countries participated in the contest with Turkey deciding not to participate after Arab countries had pressured it into not participating in a contest held in Israel. Yugoslavia, who had missed the 1978 contest, also didn’t want to take part nor transmit the show this year for political reasons.

For the second year in a row Israel won with the song “Hallelujah”, performed by the Israeli group Milk and Honey featuring Gali Atari.

1.Location. The contest took place at the International Convention Centre, also called Binyenei HaUma in Jerusalem, following Israel’s win at the 1978 edition with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi performed by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta. The venue, the largest convention center in the Middle East, hosted the contest in the Ussishkin Auditorium which seats an audience of more than 3000 and where it traditionally hosts other musical events including classical and pop stars concerts.

The city’s ancient, religious and modern scenery was reflected through a film which opened the broadcast. The city’s history as one of the oldest and holiest in the world, was shown through the biblical and medieval monuments and sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as visitors and city’s residents who frequent them while practicing their faiths. The city’s governmental, cultural and educational institutions and monuments, as well as the streets and people outside the ancient wall, were shown at the opening and conclusion of the film.

2.Format. The 24th contest’s logo featured a combination of a G-clef, the IBA logo, and the names of all participating countries in order of appearance.

The stage concept was designed by Dov Ben David. On stage there was a moving symbol which was based on the IBA logo (which was built like a lamp with 3 concentric rings) using a small projected model.

Since Israeli Television had yet to broadcast in colour at that point (except for a few special occasions), the production had to borrow cameras from the BBC, the same had happened when RTÉ had hosted the 1971 contest in Dublin.

The IBA Symphony Orchestra, directed by conductor Izhak Graziani played the music of each song (except for the Italian entry, which did not use the orchestra). This was the only contest where the orchestra was composed of 39 musicians.

2.1.Postcards. This year, the postcards between each song featured mime artists rather than the participating singers. The mime artists featured were the Yoram Boker Mime Group, and included some of Israel’s leading mime artists, among them Ezra Dagan and Hanoch Rozen. The group performed on a background of illustrations created by Dudu Geva and Yochanan Lakitzevitz, that featured landmarks and typical landscapes of the respective countries.

The various themes were as following, listed in appearance order:

1. 🇵🇹 Portugal – Boats and picnic baskets on a Portuguese beach; The mime performers pretend to pull a giant bottle of Porto Wine.
2. 🇮🇹 Italy – A photographer using an old view camera, trying to take a picture of tourists on the background of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, when the tower keeps changing its position.
3. 🇩🇰 Denmark – A mime performer dressed as Copenhagen‘s The Little Mermaid Statue, while other figures from famous fairytales by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (such as The Ugly Duckling) move in the background.
4. 🇮🇪 Ireland – Mime performers dance in a typical Irish village, with a background of an Irish pub with the sign of Guinness, famous Irish beer brand.
5. 🇫🇮 Finland – Mime performers pretending to be ice skating in a snowy Finnish forest.
6. 🇲🇨 Monaco – A mime performer pretends to be a track marshal waving a flag at the motor racing Grand Prix de Monaco.
7. 🇬🇷 Greece – A mime performer dressed as the Discobolus of Myron statue, standing on the Acropolis of Athens. The statue “comes to life” and throws the discus which causes an audible mayhem, and the presenters Yardena Arazi and Daniel Pe’er take a sneak pick from the columns of the Parthenon, “appalled” by the statue’s conduct.
8. 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Three mime performers pretend to be wooden figures of a Swiss clock, dancing. In the background there are illustrations of the Swiss Alps, a building shaped as a clock and a structure with a rooster shaped weather vane.
9. 🇩🇪 Germany – A typical old German village; A depiction of a scene from the German children’s book Max and Moritz. A mime performer pretending to be an old woman cooking, when two others are on the roof, stealing her chicken by fishing it through the chimney. In the background some animals are seen, as well as some creatures from the fairy tales of the German Brothers Grimm.
10. 🇮🇱 Israel – Two performers dressed as two of The Twelve Spies carry a big grape cluster, pretending to be walking, when the pictures in the background move to feature the different landscapes of Israel (another performer acts as an orchard worker). Eventually, the scenery changes to a typical Israeli beach, when the two performers take off their biblical style costumes and appear shirtless, wearing modern-day swim trunks.
11. 🇫🇷 France – An illustration of the famous Paris avenue of Champs-Élysées, with mime performers act as a typical French street painter, alongside a romantic couple dancing – initially with each other, and then joined by a drunk homeless who dances with them.
12. 🇧🇪 Belgium – The famous painting of The Peasant Wedding, created by Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, “comes to life”, with mime performers pretending to be the two bakers carrying the tray of bread, each pulling to a different direction and argue. Another performer acts as one of the peasants, asking for more bread.
13. 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Two mime performers play soldiers on a turret of the Grand Ducal Palace of Luxembourg. Initially, they pretend to look out for invaders, but then they pull transistor radios out of the edge of their swords and start dancing to rock ‘n’ roll music.
14. 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Four mime performers, dressed in old Dutch clothes, pretend to be riding an invisible old kick scooter. The background feature a lot of windmills and some storks sit on them.
15. 🇸🇪 Sweden – The background features an illustration of an enchanted forest in the snow. Two mime performers, dressed as Trolls from the Scandinavian mythology, dance in the snow, and are joined by a third “troll”.
16. 🇳🇴 Norway – Three mime performers pretend to be Viking Warriors sailing on a ship, facing a strong wind. The background features illustrations of the Norwegian Fjords.
17. 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Representing the ‘changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the background features the fence of Buckingham Palace, but instead of the palace, beyond fence there are famous London landmarks, such as the Big Ben and St Paul’s Cathedral. A mime performer, dressed as an old English banker, reads a newspaper, when a life-size cardboard figure of the Queen’s Guard is placed next to him. Another performer, dressed as a sculptor, places another guard figure and salutes it. He then takes the other guard figure, while the other figure suddenly “comes to life” when another performer is dressed as a guard, picking at the banker’s newspaper.
18. 🇦🇹 Austria – A mime performer dressed as a violinist pretends to be playing an invisible violin in a classical ballroom, and two other performers dance a Viennese Waltz. In the background there are illustrations of spectators.
19. 🇪🇸 Spain – The background features a typical Spanish bullfighting arena. One mime performer is dressed as a matador, holding a red cloth and pretends to be fighting an invisible bull. Another performer is dressed as a banderillero, while three others are dressed as spectators in the audience. There are also real hats moving on the heads of some of the illustrated spectators.

2.2.Interval act. The intermission between the songs and the voting was presented by a performance of the Shalom ’79 Dancing Ensemble, who danced to a medley of Israeli Folk Dances. The performance was directed by the ensemble’s manager and choreographer Gavri Levy.

3.Participating countries. At one point before the contest Turkey had planned to participate. The country would have appeared 11th on stage (between Israel and France), represented by Maria Rita Epik and 21. Peron with the song “Seviyorum” (“I’m Loving”). However, Turkey later ended up withdrawing from the contest following pressure from Arab states, who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in a contest held in Israel. Turkey did, however, take part in the contest held in Jerusalem in 1999.

As well as being broadcast live in the 19 competing countries, the contest was also broadcast in Romania, Hong Kong and Iceland.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who conducted the orchestra, except Italy.

3.2.Returning artists. 

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Peter, Sue & Marc	🇨🇭 Switzerland	1971, 1976
Xandra	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	1972 (Along with Andres Holten), 1976 (as Sandra Reemer)
Anne-Marie David	🇫🇷 France	1973 (for 🇱🇺 Luxembourg)
Yardena Arazi (as presenter)	🇮🇱 Israel	1976 (as part of Chocolate, Menta, Mastik)
Anita Skorgan	🇳🇴 Norway	1977

3.3.Participants and results. The following tables reflect the confirmed, verified scores, which were adjusted after the live broadcast. During the voting announcement, due to a misunderstanding by the presenter Yardena Arazi, Spain appeared to award 10 points to both Portugal and Israel and these scores were added to the scoreboard. After the programme, verification confirmed that Portugal should only have received six points, leaving the total Portuguese score reduced by four points to 64.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1979: 

• National Selections in 1979:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1979 (song selection)[a]	Micha Marah – “Hey Nana”
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1979	Tommy Seebach – “Disco Tango”
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1979)	Katri Helena – “Katson sineen taivaan“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Jerusalem	Dschinghis Khan – “Dschinghis Khan”
🇬🇷 Greece	(Greek Selection 1979)	Elpida – “Sokrati” (Σωκράτη)
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1979)	Cathal Dunne – “Happy Man”
🇮🇱 Israel	Israel Song Festival 1979	Milk and Honey – “Hallelujah” (הללויה)
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1979 (song selection)[b]	Xandra – “Colorado”
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1979	Anita Skorgan – “Oliver”
🇵🇹 Portugal	Festival da Canção 1979	Manuela Bravo – “Sobe, sobe, balão sobe“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1979	Ted Gärdestad – “Satellit“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1979	Peter, Sue and Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri – “Trödler und Co“
🇹🇷 Turkey	Şarkı Yarışması 1979	Maria Rita Epik and 21. Peron –  “Seviyorum” (I’m Loving)
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1979	Black Lace – “Mary Ann”

• Internal Selections in 1979: 

4.Voting. Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. This was the last year in which the points were announced via order of appearance, as opposed to order of preference. From the next year’s contest onwards, the points were announced in ascending order instead. This has remained in place ever since.

The voting was extremely close. Israel gained a good lead in the early stages of the voting, but Spain eventually caught up and took a good lead themselves. At the close of the penultimate jury’s votes, Israel were one point behind Spain, and only the Spanish jury had yet to give their votes. Spain ended up giving Israel 10 points, causing the crowd to erupt into enormous cheers.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇵🇹 Portugal	64		6			2	5		4	4		10	5	3	3	3	6		7	6
	🇮🇹 Italy	27	8				8											3			8
	🇩🇰 Denmark	76				2		3	12	1	10	12	6	7	4	8	1		3	3	4
	🇮🇪 Ireland	80	5	5	5		6		10	6	6	3		10	7		8	5	4
	🇫🇮 Finland	38		7					7	8	5		5		6
	🇲🇨 Monaco	12	1	2	4								3								2
	🇬🇷 Greece	69	10		1	4		7		7	2	10	4	1	5	7	2			2	7
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	60			7	1	10	2	2		7	4	7					8		12
	🇩🇪 Germany	86	2	1	12	5	3	12				6	12	4	1	2	6		8		12
	🇮🇱 Israel	125	12		6	12	12	8	4	5			1	2	8	1	12	12	12	8	10
	🇫🇷 France	106	6	10			1	10	8	10		5		6	12	12	5	7	6	5	3
	🇧🇪 Belgium	5			2						1								2
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	44	7			3	4	4	5	3			2			4		2	10
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	51			8	10	5		3		3	7		3			4	4		4
	🇸🇪 Sweden	8				6			1			1
	Norway	57	3	3		8		6				2		8	2	6	10		7	1	1
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	73	4	8	10	7	7	1		2	8					5		10		6	5
	🇦🇹 Austria	5		4															1
	🇪🇸 Spain	116		12	3				6	12	12	8	8	12	10	10	7	1	5	10

4.1.12 points. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	🇮🇱 Israel	🇫🇮 Finland, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
4	🇩🇪 Germany	🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇷 France, 🇲🇨 Monaco, 🇪🇸 Spain
	🇪🇸 Spain	🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
2	🇩🇰 Denmark	🇬🇷 Greece, 🇮🇱 Israel
	🇫🇷 France	🇱🇺 Luxembourg, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands
1	🇨🇭 Switzerland	🇦🇹 Austria

5.Broadcasts. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS1	Max Schautzer	–
	Hitradio Ö3	Walter Richard Langer
🇧🇪 Belgium	BRT TV1	Dutch: Luc Appermont	–
	RTBF1	French: Paule Herreman	–
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Nand Baert and Herwig Haes
	RTBF La Première	French: Marc Danval
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius	–
	DR P3	Kjeld Koplev
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Anja-Maija Leppänen	–
	YLE Rinnakkaisohjelma	Matti Paalosmaa  and Jaakko Salonoja
🇫🇷 France	TF1	Marc Menant	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Ado Schlier and Gabi Schnelle	–
	Deutschlandfunk/Bayern 2	Wolf Mittler
🇬🇷 Greece	ERT	Mako Georgiadou	–
	Proto Programma	Dimitris Konstantaras
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ 1	Mike Murphy
	RTÉ Radio	Liam Devally
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentator
	Reshet Gimel	Yoram Arbel	–
🇮🇹 Italy	Rete 1	Rosanna Vaudetti
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RTL Télé Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic	–
	RTL	André Torrent
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	José Sacré
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 2	Willem Duys	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Egil Teige	–
	NRK P1	Erik Heyerdahl
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP1	Fialho Gouveia	–
🇪🇸 Spain	TVE1	Miguel de los Santos	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	SR TV1	Ulf Elfving	–
	SR P3	Kent Finell	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Max Rüeger	–
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy	–
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	John Dunn	–
	BBC Radio 2	Ray Moore	–

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
Hong Kong	TVB Jade	Cantonese: Regina Hing Yue Tsang (曾慶瑜), Lee Chi-chung (李志中)	–
	TVB Pearl	English: George Lam (林子祥)
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Unknown	–
🇷🇴 Romania	TVR	Unknown	–
🇹🇷 Turkey	Ankara Television	Bülend Özveren
Yugoslavia	TVB 2	Serbo-Croatian: Milovan Ilić	–
	TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	TVL 1	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

6.Incidents.

6.1.Religious complaints. Religious politicians in Israel complained about the dress rehearsals taking part on Saturday morning, thus violating Jewish religious laws, prohibiting working on the Sabbath.

6.2.Swiss airport arrival. The Swiss delegation had to face a thorough security check at the airport, with the security officers demanding an explanation for the amount of garden tools they brought (which they brought for their performance).

6.3.Belgian language. When calling the various national juries, the presenters greeted every country, saying “good evening” and “thank you” in their own national language. During the dress rehearsal, when Yardena Arazi called the Belgian jury, she greeted them in French, although the Belgian entry was represented this year by the Flemish broadcaster VRT. The Belgian delegation protested that their spokesperson was not greeted in Dutch. The production team apologised, and during the live show, Arazi did greet them in Dutch. Ever since, VRT presents their votes in English (except for 1987), to distinguish themselves from the Walloon broadcaster RTBF.

6.4.Israeli entrant name. During the week of rehearsals, Gali Atari, one of the members of newly formed Israeli group Milk and Honey, demanded for the name of the group to be changed to “Gali Atari & Milk and Honey”. The other members of the group (Reuven Gvirtz, Yehuda Tamir, and Shmulik Bilu) expressed their objection. The argument was ended by the IBA, who told Atari that the Israeli entry has already been registered as “Milk and Honey”, and according to the EBU rules cannot be changed. They did promise her, however, that should Israel win the contest, the presenters will declare the winners as “Gali Atari & Milk and Honey”. Israel eventually won, and presenter Daniel Pe’er did state the name of the group in that way in Hebrew and English. However, when it was presenter Yardena Arazi’s turn to declare the winner in French, she said “Milk and Honey” only, without mentioning Atari’s name. Gossip tabloids in Israel claimed Arazi said before the show: “I’m not willing to take part in Gali Atari’s caprices”.

7.Notes.

• ^[a] Micha Marah was internally selected to represent Belgium at Eurovision 1979. The song “Hey Nana” that Micha performed at Eurovision was selected through four elimination heats and a final.
• ^[b] Xandra was internally selected to represent The Netherlands at Eurovision 1979. The song “Colorado” that Xandra performed at Eurovision was selected through the Nationaal Songfestival 1979 with five songs.

8.Trivial / Fun facts.

• The Belgian singer Micha Marah was very unhappy with her song Hey Nana as this was selected against her will.
• Micha Marah refused to record the song and it remains one of the few songs in Eurovision Song Contest with no studio-version.
• Monaco decided to withdraw after they finished in 16th place. The country would return 25 years later, in 2004.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1978 • Eurovision Song Contest 1979 • Eurovision Song Contest 1980 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Portugal ⦁ Italy ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Ireland ⦁ Finland ⦁ Monaco ⦁ Greece ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Germany ⦁ Israel (winner) • France ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Luxembourg ⦁ The Netherlands • Sweden • Norway ⦁ United Kingdom • Austria • Spain
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Manuela Bravo ⦁ Matia Bazar ⦁ Tommy Seebach ⦁ Cathal Dunne ⦁ Katri Helena ⦁ Laurent Vaguener ⦁ Elpida ⦁ Peter, Sue and Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri ⦁ Dschinghis Khan ⦁ Milk and Honey (winner) ⦁ Anne-Marie David • Micha Marah ⦁ Jeane Manson ⦁ Xandra ⦁ Ted Gärdestad • Anita Skorgan ⦁ Black Lace ⦁ Christina Simon • Betty Missiego
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Sobe, sobe, balão sobe” ⦁ “Raggio di luna” ⦁ “Disco Tango” ⦁ “Happy Man” ⦁ “Katson sineen taivaan” ⦁ “Notre vie c’est la musique” ⦁ “Sokrati” (Σωκράτη) ⦁ “Trödler und Co” ⦁ “Dschinghis Khan” ⦁ “Hallelujah” (הללויה) (winner) ⦁ “Je suis l’enfant soleil” • “Hey Nana” ⦁ “J’ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux” ⦁ “Colorado” ⦁ “Satellit” • “Mary Ann”  ⦁ “Heute in Jerusalem” • “Su canción“
Non-participating entries: Turkey: Maria Rita Epik & 21.Peron – “Seviyorum” (I Love)”