For the 1988 edition of Israel's annual national selection, Yardena Arazi was internally selected by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to be the national representative. Previously, she had competed in the 1976 contest as a member of Chocolate, Menta, Mastik, who finished sixth with the song "Emor Shalom." She also co-hosted the 1979 contest alongside Daniel Pe'er in Jerusalem. She competed in the 1982, 1983, and 1985 national finals, finishing as runner-up in the first two and third in the latter, and co-hosted the 1987 edition alongside Yoram Arbel. For 1988, seeing as she had a high stature in Israeli popular music and still wished to compete, the IBA decided it was only fair to let her automatically take the slot as the country's representative, and use the national final to select her song.