Its lyrics became even more symbolic following Haza's own death in 2000. Radio stations around the country began to play it.

The song did not have any substantial chart success upon its release to radio but became an anthem after Haza performed it on the assembly in memorial to deceased Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a week after he was assassinated. Though not an initial chart success, the album produced one of her biggest hits to date, Le'orech Hayam ('Along The Sea'), written by Ayala Asherov. In 1994, Haza released her first Hebrew album in seven years, Kol Haneshama ('The Whole Soul'). In 1992, Kirya (co-produced by Don Was) received a Grammy nomination. Haza also received critical acclaim for the albums Fifty Gates of Wisdom (1984), Desert Wind (1989), Kirya (1992) and Ofra Haza (1997). Im Nin'alu would go on to be featured on an in-game radio playlist of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, released in 2005 and featured on Panjabi MC's album 'Indian Timing' in 2009. Subsequent singles were also given the dance-beat / MTV-style video treatment, most notably, Galbi, Daw Da Hiya and Mata Hari, but none quite matched the runaway success of her first hit. The single made only a brief appearance in the UK top 40 singles chart, but became a dance floor favorite across Europe and the US, topping the German charts for nine weeks. In the annals of classical hip-hop this song would be extensively re-released, re-mixed and sampled, for example on Coldcut's remix of Eric B. The song topped the Eurochart for two weeks in June that year and was on heavy rotation on MTV channels across the continent. Further recognition came with the single ' Im Nin'alu', taken from the album Shaday (1988), which won the New Music Award for Best International Album of the Year. The album consisted of songs that Haza had heard in childhood, using arrangements that combined authentic Middle Eastern percussion with classical instruments. Her major international breakthrough came in the wake of the album Shirei Teiman ('Yemenite songs'), which she recorded in 1984. She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, with the song 'Hi', finishing second with 136 points.

Haza served two years in the Israel Defense Forces. At 19, she was Israel's foremost pop star, and news articles have retrospectively described her as 'the Madonna of the East'. He spotlighted her in many of his productions, and later became her manager and mentor. Īt the age of 12, Haza joined a local theater troupe, and manager Bezalel Aloni noticed her singing talent. They were raised in a Masorti household in the Hatikva Quarter, then an impoverished neighborhood of Tel Aviv. She was the youngest of nine children (six sisters and two brothers) to Yefet and Shoshana Haza. Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Mizrahi Jewish parents from Yemen who immigrated to Israel.

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