Contest year
- Host City
- Jerusalem, Israel
- Venue
- Binyanei Ha'ouama Centre
- Final Date
- January 1, 1979
- Entries
- 19
- Staged in Jerusalem, the contest was Eurovision’s first held outside Europe.
- Turkey withdrew after pressure from Arab states, and Yugoslavia neither participated nor broadcast for political reasons despite strong public support for returning.
- Israel won for a second consecutive year with “Hallelujah” in an exceptionally close finish decided when Spain awarded Israel 10 points.
- Voting was marred by announcement errors, including a presenter misunderstanding that temporarily gave Spain two separate 10-point awards, later corrected in the verified results.
- 1979 was also the last year points were read in running order rather than by preference.
- via Wikipedia
Presenters
Yardena Arazi, Daniel Peer
Winner
Host Country
Final Results
| Country | Artist · Song | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Israel | Milk and Honey Hallelujah | 1 | 125 |
 Spain | Betty Missiego Su canción | 2 | 116 |
 France | Anne-Marie David Je suis l'enfant-soleil | 3 | 106 |
 Germany | Dschinghis Khan Dschinghis Khan | 4 | 86 |
 Ireland | Cathal Dunne Happy Man | 5 | 80 |
 Denmark | Tommy Seebach Disco tango | 6 | 76 |
 United Kingdom | Black Lace Mary Ann | 7 | 73 |
 Greece | Elpida Socrati | 8 | 69 |
 Portugal | Manuela Bravo Sobe, sobe, balão sobe | 9 | 64 |
 Switzerland | Peter, Sue & Marc and Pfuri, Gorps & Kniri Trödler & Co | 10 | 60 |
 Norway | Anita Skorgan Oliver | 11 | 57 |
 Netherlands | Xandra Colorado | 12 | 51 |
 Luxembourg | Jeane Manson J'ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux | 13 | 44 |
 Finland | Katri-Helena Katson sineen taivaan | 14 | 38 |
 Italy | Matia Bazar Raggio di luna | 15 | 27 |
 Monaco | Laurent Vaguener Notre vie c'est la musique | 16 | 12 |
 Sweden | Ted Gärdestad Satellit | 17 | 8 |
 Belgium | Micha Marah Hey Nana | 18 | 5 |
 Austria | Christina Simon Heute in Jerusalem | 18 | 5 |