Prior to the 2012 Contest, Israel had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-four times since its first entry in 1973. Israel has won the contest on three occasions: in 1978 with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in 1979 with the song "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey and in 1998 with the song "Diva" performed by Dana International. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Israel has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final six times, including three top ten results in 2005 with Shiri Maimon and "Hasheket Shenish'ar" placing fourth, and in 2008 with Boaz and "The Fire In Your Eyes" placing ninth. Israel had qualified to the final for three consecutive years between 2008 and 2010 prior to their non-qualification in 2011 with the song "Ding Dong" performed by Dana International.