She has since been commonly referred to as a cultural ambassador between Israelis and Iranians, and has personally stated that she hopes to "puncture the wall of tension" between the two countries.During her compulsory military service in the early 1980s, she began singing professionally as a musical band member, and rose to stardom quickly.In 1988, Rita released her second album, Yemei Ha'Tom (The Days of Innocence), which was produced by her then husband, Rami Kleinstein, and which included a song by Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin.[6] In 1990, Rita represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest with Shara Barkhovot (Singing in the Streets), but only achieved 18th place.There was a minor uproar concerning her fee, which was deemed exorbitant by some, but she was convinced to appear following a call from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[8] In 2006, Rita appeared in a show called One (in English) which ran for a month at the Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center.Directed by Hanoch Rosenn and choreographed by Mitch Sebastian, it included lasers, flamethrowers, 3-D images, smoke machines and forty dancers, acrobats, and actors.