“HaKokhav HaBa” – Episode 5: Five contestants passed to the next round. The advancing contestants are Itay Evron, Bar Nir, David Ossona, Stav Vaknin and Portrait Band.
Tonight, the fifth episode of the reality show “HaKokhav HaBa” aired, through which Israel’s representative for Eurovision 2026 will be chosen. This evening featured six auditions, with five contestants succeeding and moving on to the next round thanks to the support of the judges and the studio audience. One of them might go on to represent Israel in Eurovision this coming May.
The panel once again included Assaf Amdursky, Keren Peles, Shiri Maimon, Eden Hasson, and Itay Levi, with Dana International joining as guest judges. Each contestant must receive at least 70% of the votes to advance, and every judge contributes 12% to the total voting score.
Itay Evron
Itay Evron, 23 years old from Ziona, plays the piano and is a student at the Rimon School, where he met Keren Peles and performed with her the song “Shkufim” (in English: “Transparent”) with moderate success. He says that on stage he gains confidence and brings out his “stage animal”. Itay chose to sing the song “Let’s Get It On” (originally by Marvin Gaye) for his audition. He starts the song by proving early on that he has a rare vocal control. Itay selected a challenging song to perform and met the challenge well. He has excellent charisma, and it was a performance hard to ignore.
Assaf explained why he voted against Itay:
“I think you did it very nicely. It is very difficult to take any Marvin Gaye song and not come out pale compared to his performance. To me, there was a stylistic inaccuracy. Switching mid-way to a skater style and doing ‘Buddy Badabo’ is another genre that did not serve the song well, nor you as the presenter of the text”.
On the other hand, Keren thought:
“You had an insane audition. You made us get up from our chairs and move”.
At the end of the performance, Itay made a “correction” by performing “Shkufim” again with Keren, this time with great success.
Four judges voted in his favor, Assaf voted against. Itay received 84% and advanced to the next round.
Bar Nir
Bar Nir, 27 years old from Netivot, currently lives in Tel Aviv. She dreamed of becoming a singer but started studying acting. On October 7th, she was in Netivot and was drafted into reserve duty as an operations officer. After the terrible experience, she felt difficulty returning to acting studies and consequently returned to singing and playing guitar for herself. For her audition, she chose to sing “River” (originally by Bishop). She has a lot of presence and power in her voice. The song did not suit her as well, so there was a feeling that the performance didn’t “explode”. Vocally, she is very precise.
Itay said:
“We love this whole thing called Bar. You have magic. I think you are a wonderful singer”.
Assaf added:
“You sing exactly to my taste. All the nuances, your voice, the facial expressions while you sing. On one hand full of intention, on the other a relaxed light. You handle the camera well. I have no criticism to give you for now”.
All five judges voted in her favor. Bar received 89% and advances to the next round.
Balcony
Adam and Bar, both 28 years old, are members of a rock band that has been making Hebrew music for five years. The two want to bring Israeli rock back to the forefront. For their audition, they chose to sing “Mary Lou” (originally by Svika Pick). They took the song to a completely different place than the original. The vocal performance somewhat felt disconnected from the genre. Both the vocal and stage performance were a bit scattered and did not come together. Unfortunately, it was a less successful audition.
Shiri said:
“It didn’t activate me. It didn’t make me do anything. No moving, no laughing, no emotion. That was the first thing I missed in the audition. You said you bring rock but you were in a different mode, more seventies style. It’s like the song just started and ended…”
Itay said to the duo:
“I think you are very talented. I liked what you did in the end, that soul”.
Assaf, Shiri, and Eden voted against. Balcony got 50% and did not advance to the next round.
David Ossona
David Ossona, 26 years old from Tel Aviv, immigrated to Israel at age 5 from France. He was born into a complex family with a Haredi mother and a secular father and has four siblings. He describes himself as traditional and puts on tefillin. He served in the Nahal military unit in a yeshiva framework where he studied Torah. For his audition, he chose to sing “Feeling Good” (originally by Nina Simone). David begins the performance wonderfully, demonstrating amazing vocal execution with perfect precision and impressive vocal abilities. An excellent audition!
Dana International said:
“You had an amazing performance. At first, I thought it was a big audacity to take a song by the great Nina Simone. But it felt like you took that song for yourself and tried to make it your own, and you succeeded”.
Assaf agreed:
“As Dana said, what audacity to do a song by Nina Simone. I can’t hear another cover of this song. You started and I thought, how will I survive till the end of the song? I can’t! A minute passed and suddenly you started delivering, and I thought not only was it not boring, it was amazing!”
All five judges voted in his favor. David received 93% and advanced to the next round.
Stav Vaknin
Stav Vaknin, 30 years old, performs alongside Static in his shows. She divorced at the outbreak of the war after a year and a half of marriage and seven years of partnership. For her audition, she chose to sing the breakup song “Basivuv Haba” (originally by Eden Ben Zaken). Stav begins the song and you can immediately feel her experience. She delivers the song wonderfully, bringing perfect vocal dynamics to the performance. She proves she has amazing vocal abilities and takes the song into her own style. She moves the audience and reveals her soul on stage.
Shiri said to Stav:
“This song is really perfect for singers, allowing full emotional expression, telling the story, then opening the chorus and flying. I think you did it excellently. What interests me is what will happen in the next round. That you won’t be swallowed by the crowd. Try to think about what’s next”.
Keren added:
“I would be interested to hear you bring something different, even to this place of farewell, not really kicking it, but looking at it and taking mutual responsibility, and I think you have a stunning voice. Very special and strong”.
All five judges voted in her favor. Stav received 93% and advanced to the next round.
Portrait
Portrait is a pop-punk band that became famous in Israel in 1990 with big hits like “Hakol Mevina” (in English: “Everything (she) Understands”), “Ad Elecha” (in English: “Until You”), “Kama Ze Matok” (in English: “How Sweet It Is”), and more. They want to reach Eurovision, step out of their comfort zone, and bring joy! For their audition, they chose to perform their well-known song “Hakol Mevina”. Portrait delivers a rare performance like only they know how to. They bring rich experience in performances and creation, and their stage performance on “HaKokhav HaBa” is amazing. However, it is difficult to judge a well-known band performing a familiar song in the context of the Eurovision competition. Is this the right song to send to Eurovision? Maybe… It is also worth mentioning that the band has seven members, while according to Eurovision rules only six performers can appear on stage. A dilemma?
Shiri said:
“At Eurovision, they really love rock bands, bands that you see have been standing together on stage for 30 years and singing together”.
Assaf added:
“I was still in the audience when they started performing. They always put on an amazing show. They were the best, with the most brilliant sound, the most professional, a blast! It’s terrifying to be at their show!”
All five judges voted in their favor. Portrait received 81% and advanced to the next round.
“HaKokhav HaBa” for Eurovision
Ahead of Eurovision 2026, the Israeli national broadcaster decided to continue its collaboration with Keshet 12 in selecting the next Israeli representative for the contest. This partnership between the broadcaster and Keshet has brought Israel seven consecutive qualifications to the Grand Final, highlighted by Netta Barzilai’s victory with the song “Toy”, which brought Eurovision to Israel.
We’ll be here throughout the entire season, reporting on all the latest news, updates, and predictions – stay tuned!
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Israel at Eurovision 2025
“New Day Will Rise” is the song performed by Yuval Raphael, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the 11th season of “HaKokhav HaBa”. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 203 points and finished second overall with 357 points in the grand final. Israel ranked first in the public vote but only 14th with the jury. This marks the third consecutive year that Israel has reached the top five – an unprecedented achievement.
Eurovision 2026: This will be Israel’s 48th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the contest in 1973 and has won four times. Its most recent victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy”, performed by singer Netta Barzilai.
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Ilay Gaist is a leading Israeli content creator and writer specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest. He is a well-known commentator with extensive expertise in the contest’s history, rules, and dynamics. His passion for Eurovision drives him to deliver rich, professional, and innovative content to his audience.
Ilay holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and has a multilingual background. He also engages in cultural research, with a particular focus on global culinary traditions and the evolution of local cuisines around the world.
