Ah, it’s that time of the year again. The Holiday Season is not the only reason to be happy for the fourth quarter of the year: The Eurovision National Final Season is around the corner. Israel is going to commence its selection process, The Next Star, on 30 October.

It has been officially announced that Israel is going to start the process the determine the act set to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The kick off date for the selection process, The Next Star, is also known: 30 October.

In less than 2 weeks, we will feel the Eurovision fever also slowly kicking in. The show will be broadcast on Keshet 12, Keshet Media Group’s new channel, to be officially launched 1 November 2017.

Who is going to be in the jury panel?

This year, the names confirmed to make up the jury are Static and Ben-El Tavori, Keren Peles, Harel Skaat and Assaf Amdrusky.

Skaat (who scored 14th place for Israel at the 2010 edition of Eurovision), Ben-El Tavori and Amdrusky are to reprise their roles as jurors, with the other ones being new additions to the TV show’s format.

As a side note, Israel has been rather successful in the contest since adopting Rising Star as their selection process; in 2015, Nadav Guedj was able to secure the country’s first top 10 place in 7 years with Golden boy and Hovi Star‘s Made of stars made it to the grand final, ranking 14th.

In 2017, Imri‘s I feel alive similarly reached the final (making it the first time Israel shoots 3 consecutive qualifications since 2010), placing 23rd.

Who will follow in the footsteps of Imri and will it be possible for Israel to replicate the success of last year?