"Hallelujah" () was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, performed in Hebrew by Milk and Honey, including Gali Atari, for . History The song was originally submitted by the composer Kobi Oshrat for the national Israeli selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, but was rejected as “the selection committee did not think ‘Hallelujah’ was strong enough.“ It was also rejected by song festivals in Chile and Japan. It was, however, accepted for the national Israeli selection for the 1979 contest, where it was intended to be performed by the band Hakol Over Habibi. Hakol Over Habibi, nevertheless, declined the opportunity to sing it because the lead singer Shlomit Aharon declared she did not want to go to Eurovision. After Oshrat decided to withdraw the song because of Hakol Over Habibi’s refusal to perform the song, the national final producers wanted Gali Atari to perform the song instead. The group Milk and Honey was then formed especially for the national selection around Atari, giving her the company of the three male vocalists Shmulik Bilu, Reuven Gvirtz, and Yehuda Tamir, so that the group had the same number of singers and gender composition as Hakol Over Habibi. The song only narrowly won the national Israeli selection with 63 points, only two more points than "Ein li ish milvadi", performed by Tzvika Pick, later internationally known as the composer of 1998 Eurovision winning song Diva. This was the fourth occasion on which the host country had won the contest (, and had achieved the feat before this) and there are two more such occasions to date ( winning once in Millstreet and once more in Dublin). Israel could neither host nor compete in the next contest, which was scheduled for the same day as Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day: the festivities of the event would clash with the somber tone of the day, which is marked in Israel with memorial services, two minutes of silence, and large numbers of visitors at military and civilian cemeteries. The song is regarded as a classic of the contest due to the unique performance, in which Atari and her backing singers entered the stage one by one, rather than all together. It has also become something of a modern Jewish standard, recognized by many North Americans who might have never even heard of Eurovision. It was performed tenth on the night, following West