Thank you for joining us for Israel Festival and Rising Star – Chattanooga 2018!
This year, besides marking 70 (!) years of Israel’s Independence, we also mark the 40 year anniversary of the first time Israel won the Euro-vision competition with the song A Ba Ni Bi
What is the Euro-vision? 
The Euro-vision is the longest-running annual international TV song competition. It was held primarily among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, and then the audience casts votes for the other countries’ songs to determine the most popular song in the competition.
Did you know?
- Israel joined the Euro-vision song contest in 1973 and has participated 40 times since.
- Israel won the Euro-vision 3 times.
- The Euro-vision contest is very popular in Israel. When it was hosted in Israel in 1999, the show got 49.0% rating.
- Since 2015 and to this year, Israel select it’s contestants to the Euro-vision on a reality TV show called: “The Rising Star to the Euro-vision”
To mark the 40th anniversary of the the first time Israel won the Euro-vision, we hosted a similar contest: “The Rising Star – Chattanooga”
We want to thank all of the wonderful volunteers that made this celebration the best it can be! 
Mayor Andy Berke
The Judges: Bob Bernhardt & Jonathan Susman
The Wonderful master of ceremonies : Jed Mescon
Our talented contestant: The Chattabeats, Harv Wileman, Barbara Oxenhandler, Jessica Kodsi, Christine Hassevoort, Rachael Goldman-Gorbutt, Ruth Longway Richard Zachary and Jack DuRoy
And special volunteers: Sanford Winer, Kevin Rose, Merav Balazs, Tom Balazs, Eytan Oren, Lily Dropkin, Jonah Hodes, Randi Weiss, Ronni Charyn, Vicki Lewis, Becca Hanan, Roy Rosenfeld, Ed Bergin, Josué Loyola-Roncal, Jason DuRoy, Beth Nichols, Eleanor Epstein, Amanda Elizabeth Boulware, Caitlin Gardner and Scott & Olga Drucker.
Toda Raba!
