The streets of Tel Aviv were alive with hooting until the early hours of the morning after Israel claimed victory at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.
The country was last crowned winner of the global competition in 1998 when Dana International won for Diva.
26 nations compete and 43 votes in the Eurovision final which this year was held in Lisbon, Portugal after Savidor Sobral won last year and took home the glittery globe.
The evening’s most notable performances included Denmark doing a striking impression of something from Game of Thrones, Hungary bringing heavy metal to the Eurovision stage (complete with stage diving), Sweden and the Czech Republic both channelling Justin Bieber, Israel embracing its inner chicken, and SuRie of the United Kingdom having her microphone stolen by an unknown man mid-performance.
As votes from the countries’ juries rolled in, Austria, Israel, Germany, Sweden, and Cyprus were all in with a solid chance to take home the 2018 title.
Televoting by the public resulted in a nail-biting finish with Austria’s lead overtaken by Cyprus and eventually Israel which amassed 529 points for Netta Barzilai’s empowering song, Toy.
