Runner-up: Switzerland 1963

Israel wasn't going to debut in its own right until ten years later and hadn't even started regular television broadcasting as yet, but at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest two Israeli singers were to make quite an impression.

Very rightly so as well. The horrors of the second world war were still an open scar, the state of Israel had only been in existence for fifteen years.

Carmela Corren represented Austria and sang the bilingual "Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder" to seventh place while Esther Ofarim, representing Switzerland singing in French, did even better and looked like a winner up until the bitter end.

Famously the Norwegian jury had given the wrong scores when first called, and, when called back at the end of the voting, changed their points enough for Denmark to win and leave Esther in second place. The second set of Norwegian votes was the correct one but the victory was still disputed.

Esther Ofarim herself has sometimes in interviews recalled what it was like when she won Eurovision. She almost had a second shot at Eurovision many years later, as Ralph Siegel originally wrote the 1997 German entry "Zeit" with her in mind before offering it to Bianca Shomburg instead.

A deserved 2nd place?
Absolutely. Denmark and Switzerland brought in the two best songs and both of them deserved victory. The Ingmann's won and Esther apparently thinks she won, so let's call it a tie.



Esther Ofarim - T'en va pas (Switzerland 1963)