Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987
Israel was represented at the Eurovision [Song Contest 1987] with the song "Shir Habatlanim", written by Zohar Laskov, and performed by Datner and Kushnir. The Israeli participating broadcaster, the Israel Broadcasting Authority, selected its entry for the contest through Kdam Eurovision 1987.
Before Eurovision
1987
The 1987 edition of the Kdam Eurovision was the largest edition of the contest up to that point. Sixteen songs were in contention to represent Israel in Belgium, and rather than only use the votes of regional jury panels as was standard procedure, five of them were joined by three televoting regions and a vote of the audience watching the show in the auditorium. Said auditorium was the Cinerama in Tel Aviv, which marked the first time that the Israeli selection took place outside of Jerusalem. The final was held on 1 April 1987, with co-hosts Yardena Arazi and presenter Yoram Arbel. For the first time since the 1979 heats, an orchestra was present, with each composition's respective arranger leading the orchestra. However, according to Kobi Oshrat, 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.Among the competitors was Izhar Cohen, who had previously scored Israel's first Eurovision victory with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" in and later earned them a fifth-place finish in with "Ole, Ole". He was joined here by his sister, fellow singer Vardina Cohen. Also making an early appearance were Moshe and Orna Datz, better known as Duo Datz, who would go on to win the and finish third in with the song "Kan". 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. Dafna Dekel, who represented with the song "Ze Rak Sport" and co-hosted the contest, appeared here as a member of Dorit & Friends.
The voting was close, with few points separating the top four songs. 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 threatened to resign if the duo remained the Israeli representatives. They did, and he did not.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points | Place |
| 1 | Arik Sinai and Brur-Chail Group | "Lahzor ha'bayta" | Yoram Zadok | 29 | 8 |
| 2 | Ilana Avital | "Dai li dai" | Kobi Oshrat | 66 | 2 |
| 3 | Dudu Fisher | "Kinor" | Ronny Weiss | 35 | 7 |
| 4 | Lahakat Shir | "Shir" | David Krivoshei | 55 | 6 |
| 5 | Yaron Chadad | "Ulay halayla" | Eldad Shrem | 1 | 16 |
| 6 | Vardina and Izhar Cohen | "Musica hi neshika la'netzach" | Ronny Weiss | 59 | 5 |
| 7 | Haim Moshe | "Eretz ahuva" | Nansi Brandes | 13 | 12 |
| 8 | [Duo Datz|Orna and Moshe Datz] | "Cupidon" | Ilan Gilboa | 63 | 4 |
| 9 | Dorit and Friends | "Yerushalem" | Nansi Brandes | 16 | 9 |
| 10 | Etti Ankri | "Nostalgia" | David Krivoshei | 3 | 14 |
| 11 | Daliah Cohen and the Guys from Afikim | "Hey hopa" | David Krivoshei | 3 | 14 |
| 12 | Svika Pick | "Domino" | David Krivoshei | 14 | 10 |
| 13 | Gitit Shoval | "Ha'klik" | David Krivoshei | 14 | 10 |
| 14 | Miki Kam | "Kazino olami" | Kobi Oshrat | 65 | 3 |
| 15 | Israela Krovoshey | "Airobica" | David Krivoshei | 7 | 13 |
| 16 | Natan Datner and Avi Kushnir | "Shir Habatlanim" | Kobi Oshrat | 79 | 1 |
| Draw | Song | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | Total |
| 1 | "Lahzor ha'bayta" | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 29 | ||
| 2 | "Dai li dai" | 8 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 66 |
| 3 | "Kinor" | 3 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 35 | ||
| 4 | "Shir" | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 55 |
| 5 | "Ulay halayla" | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 6 | "Musica hi neshika la'netzach" | 6 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 59 |
| 7 | "Eretz ahuva" | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | ||||
| 8 | "Cupidon" | 7 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 63 |
| 9 | "Yerushalem" | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 16 | |||
| 10 | "Nostalgia" | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| 11 | "Hey hopa" | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 12 | "Domino" | 2 | 12 | 14 | |||||||
| 13 | "Ha'klik" | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 14 | |||||
| 14 | "Kazino olami" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 65 | ||
| 15 | "Airobica" | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ||||||
| 16 | "Shir habatlanim" | 10 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 79 |
At Eurovision
Israel performed second on the night of the contest, following and preceding. Israel placed eighth with 73 points. Israel's jury awarded twelve points to.Voting
| Score | Country |
| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
| Score | Country |
| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |