The Voice Israel, Season 2

The Voice Israel was based on a Dutch-developed television format pairing unknown singers with established musical mentors through a blind-audition process in which coaches select contestants without seeing them perform.[1] The first season had been won by Canadian-born immigrant Kathleen Reiter, coached by Sarit Hadad, who subsequently released the single "Klum Lo Ozer Li" ("Nothing Helps Me").[1][2]

The second season opened with blind auditions built around rotating chairs and later moved through battles, semifinals, and a live finale.[3][4] Michael Aloni served as host.[3] During the battle stage, additional musical advisers participated, including Efrat Gosh, Mosh Ben Ari, Ofer Meiri, and Kobi Oz.[4] Full-length performances from different stages of the competition were made available for purchase through iTunes.[4]

The season featured five on-screen mentors: rock singer Aviv Geffen, Mizrahi singer Sarit Hadad, and veteran performer Shlomi Shabat each led their own teams, while Yuval Banai and Shlomi Bracha of the Israeli rock band Mashina jointly occupied a shared coaching chair, replacing Rami Kleinstein from the first season.[5][3]

Lina Makhoul was a member of Shlomi Shabat's team, alongside Or Ben-Atar and Anal Valenzi, among others.[6] The Mashina-coached team included Daniela Miluo, Dan Salomon, Asaf Gad Hanan, Rudi Binesin, and Lucille Blackerman.[6] Makhoul was identified in contemporary coverage as a clear standout within Shabat's team.[4]

The season ran for nearly three months of live television competition before reaching its finale.[2] Among its notable moments was Makhoul's performance of Fairuz's Arabic rendition of "Autumn Leaves," which a Walla reviewer described as musically impressive and significant in human terms. Shlomi Shabat commented of her at the time, "This girl may bring peace."[6]

The season's final four contestants were all women: Rudi Binesin, Dana Tzelakh, Ofir Ben Shitrit, and Lina Makhoul.[2] The finale was held at Nokia Arena, then known as Nokia Hall.[4] It proceeded in two rounds—solo performances by the four finalists, followed by duets between each finalist and her mentor.[2] After a sudden-death round, only Makhoul and Ben Shitrit advanced to the final stage of voting.[2]

On March 23, 2013, Lina Makhoul won the second season of The Voice Israel, becoming the first Arab contestant to win the competition.[7][1] She defeated Ofir Ben Shitrit, an Orthodox contestant from Ashdod, in a public vote.[7][1] Her winning performance was a rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."[1]

Makhoul received a recording deal and a scholarship to attend music school as the prize for her victory.[2] Israeli home viewers were reported to have voted for her overwhelmingly.[7] During her live acceptance, Makhoul said that she had experienced racism during the filming of the season.[2]

Contemporary coverage framed her victory as a moment embodying acceptance and coexistence between Jewish and Arab Israelis, while also raising questions about whether that symbolic meaning would endure beyond the program's conclusion.[4]

The prize for winners of the first two Israeli seasons included production of a debut album under the auspices of Helicon. However, a later account reported that Helicon and both winners—Kathleen Reiter and Lina Makhoul—eventually reached an agreement ending their contractual obligations, as the album-production arrangement had not proceeded successfully.[8]

Makhoul later reflected on the impact of her participation and victory, recalling that she received a message from right-wing extremists in Jerusalem who told her, "You changed our whole way of thinking; an Arab is exactly like us."[9] She also noted that people from both Jewish and Arab communities placed heavy expectations on her regarding her behavior, dress, and choice of singing language.[9] Her later public profile continued to identify her with her discovery and victory on the program.[9]

Makhoul's victory attracted attention beyond Israel's entertainment press. A Palestinian Media Watch report cited the finale as an example of Israeli viewers crossing communal lines—noting that the two finalists were one Israeli Jewish woman and one Israeli Arab woman, with the Arab contestant winning the public vote—and framed the outcome in the context of Israeli society and Arab-Jewish relations.[7] That interpretation reflects the advocacy perspective of the report and should be read in that context.

Critical coverage of the season also noted that contestants frequently sang in English as well as Hebrew, and questioned whether adequate attention was given to teaching performers the meaning of foreign-language lyrics rather than simply how to reproduce their sounds.[3]