Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Eurovision Song Contest 2022
Country	Israel
National selection
Selection process	The X Factor Israel
Selection date(s)	5 February 2022
Selected entrant	Michael Ben David
Selected song	"I.M"
Selected songwriter(s)	Chen Aharoni Lidor Saadia Asi Tal
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (13th)
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2021 • 2022 • 2023►

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with the entry "I.M" performed by Michael Ben David. The Israeli broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Reshet in order to select the Israeli entry for the 2022 contest. The fourth season of the reality singing competition The X Factor Israel, which was organised by Reshet, was used to select the Israeli entry. The competition concluded with a final on 5 February 2022 that featured four finalists with potential Eurovision songs that were selected for them through a song selection round in January and February 2022. The winner was selected following the combination of the votes from a public vote and two jury groups.

Israel was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2022. Performing during the show in position 2, "I.M" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Israel placed 13th out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 61 points.^[1]

Background

Prior to the 2022 contest, Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-three times since its first entry in 1973.^[2] Israel has won the contest on four occasions: in 1978 with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" performed by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, in 1979 with the song "Hallelujah" performed by Milk and Honey, in 1998 with the song "Diva" performed by Dana International and in 2018 with the song "Toy" performed by Netta Barzilai. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Israel has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final eleven times, including three top ten results in 2005 with Shiri Maimon and "Hasheket Shenish'ar" placing fourth, in 2008 with Boaz and "The Fire In Your Eyes" placing ninth, and in 2015 with Nadav Guedj and "Golden Boy" placing ninth, in addition to the victory in 2018. Israel has participated in the final for six consecutive years between 2015 and 2021, which included their 2021 entry "Set Me Free" performed by Eden Alene.

The Israeli national broadcaster, Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), has been in charge of the nation's participation in the contest since 2018. Kan confirmed Israel's participation in the contest on 21 February 2021.^[3] Between 2015 and 2020, the Israeli entry was selected through the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion ("The Next Star for Eurovision") in collaboration with Keshet and Tedy Productions, while in 2021, Kan conducted an internal selection to select the artist that would represent Israel and a national final to select the song for the artist. On 6 April 2021, Kan confirmed that they would cooperate with television channel Reshet 13 in order to select the Israeli entry through the reality singing competition The X Factor Israel.^[4][5]

Before Eurovision

The X Factor Israel

The Israeli entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was selected through the fourth season of the reality singing competition The X Factor Israel.^[5] The shows were hosted by Liron Weizman [he] and featured a judging panel composed of Margalit Tzan'ani and Miri Mesika (Groups and Over 25's), Aviv Geffen (Girls), Eurovision Song Contest 2018 winner Netta Barzilai (Boys) and Ran Danker (Teens). Show creator Simon Cowell was originally announced as a judge but withdrew prior to the competition.^[6][7] The competition took place over three months, which commenced on 30 October 2021 and concluded on 5 February 2022. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Channel 13 as well as online via 13tv.co.il.^[8]

Contestant progress

Following the audition phase of the competition, 33 contestants advanced after receiving a "yes" from at least four of the five judges. During the Judge Houses and Chairs phase, each member of the judging panel selected from each of their categories four out of eight/nine contestants that advanced from the audition phase. The sixteen remaining contestants then competed during the live shows, which took place over six weeks from 26 December 2021 and resulted in the selection of four finalists following the fifth week. The four finalists were: Eli Huli, Inbal Bibi, Michael Ben David and Sapir Saban.

Song selection round

On 19 September 2021, Kan opened the public song submission with the deadline on 17 October 2021.^[9] Two songs per finalist were chosen from 130 submissions by a six-member professional committee with five members from Kan (four radio representatives and one television representative), among them which included the director of Kan music stations Ofri Gopher, and one from Reshet 13.^[10][11] The eight competing songs were presented on Kan Gimel on 30 January 2022 and the public was able to vote through Kan's official website and mobile application until 3 February 2022.^[12] A combination of the votes from the public vote (50%) and two jury groups consisting of The X Factor Israel 2022 judges (25%) and the professional committee (25%) selected one song per finalist to advance to the final, which was revealed during a special televised broadcast titled HaShir Shelanu L'Eurovizion ("Our Song for Eurovision") on Kan 11, Kan Gimel as well as online via kan.org.il on 3 February.^[13]

Final

The final took place on 5 February 2022 in the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv.^[14] The winner was selected in two rounds. In the duel round, the four finalists were divided into two duels and each performed a cover song. Two entries progressed forward to the final round, while the two others faced each other off in another duel, which picked the third participant of the final round. In the final round, the three finalists that advanced from the duel round presented their candidate Eurovision entries chosen through the song selection round.^[15] The winner was selected by a combination of the votes from a public vote (50%) and two jury groups consisting of The X Factor Israel 2022 judges (25%) and the professional committee (25%).^[13]

Controversy

On 12 April 2022, Kan stated that due to a strike in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs which prevents the deployment of security personnel, the Israeli delegation would not be able to travel to Turin for the time being.^[16] The following day, Kan stated: "In the coming days, the GSS will make efforts to help find a solution, even though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff committee stands its ground and does not intend to help provide the information necessary to regulate security services. Kan would like to thank the GSS for its assistance and hope that a solution to the crisis will be found soon."^[17] On 28 April, it was confirmed that a solution was found, in which the delegation would be split into two, with the first group leaving for Turin on 1 May, and the second on 8 May.^[18][19]

Preparations

Marvin Dietmann, who also worked on the staging for Cyprus, was announced as the artistic director for the Israeli performance.^[20] A revamped version of the song was released on 14 March 2022, and was first performed at the Israel Calling pre-party, held in the Menora Mivtachim Arena on 7 April.^[21][22]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2022, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform. Israel has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2022, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[23]

Once all the competing songs for the 2022 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Israel was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Finland and before the entry from Serbia.^[24] The country was not announced as one of the ten qualifiers, marking the first time Israel has failed to qualify since 2014. It was later announced that Israel placed thirteenth in the semi-final with 61 points, 27 of which from the televote and 34 from the professional juries.^[25]

Voting

Points awarded to Israel

Points awarded to Israel (Semi-final 2)[26] Score Televote Jury 12 points 10 points  Azerbaijan  Georgia  Australia 8 points 7 points  Belgium 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points  Czech Republic  Ireland  Spain  Sweden 2 points  Germany  San Marino  Germany  Malta 1 point  Azerbaijan  Poland  Romania  United Kingdom Points awarded by Israel Points awarded by Israel (Semi-final 2)[26] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Sweden  Sweden 10 points  Czech Republic  Australia 8 points  Serbia  Poland 7 points  Poland  Belgium 6 points  Australia  Czech Republic 5 points  Georgia  Finland 4 points  Estonia  Romania 3 points  Ireland  Estonia 2 points  Romania  Malta 1 point  Belgium  Serbia Points awarded by Israel (Final)[27] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Ukraine  Sweden 10 points  United Kingdom  United Kingdom 8 points  Spain  Italy 7 points  Serbia  Ukraine 6 points  Moldova  Poland 5 points  Sweden  Australia 4 points  Norway  Belgium 3 points  Italy  Spain 2 points  Netherlands  Czech Republic 1 point  Poland  Netherlands Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Israeli jury:[28] Dafna Armoni Diana Golbi Liron Lev Shai Lahav Yahel Doron Detailed voting results from Israel (Semi-final 2)[26] Draw Country Jury Televote Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points 01  Finland 9 4 5 9 8 6 5 11 02  Israel 03  Serbia 17 11 4 17 16 10 1 3 8 04  Azerbaijan 11 9 12 10 11 12 15 05  Georgia 13 16 17 11 10 14 6 5 06  Malta 6 10 10 13 6 9 2 14 07  San Marino 12 12 13 7 15 13 13 08  Australia 2 1 3 2 3 2 10 5 6 09  Cyprus 16 13 11 16 17 16 12 10  Ireland 10 14 16 12 14 15 8 3 11  North Macedonia 14 6 14 15 9 11 16 12  Estonia 7 15 7 5 13 8 3 7 4 13  Romania 8 5 8 8 7 7 4 9 2 14  Poland 4 7 2 3 2 3 8 4 7 15  Montenegro 15 17 15 14 12 17 17 16  Belgium 3 3 6 4 4 4 7 10 1 17  Sweden 1 2 1 1 1 1 12 1 12 18  Czech Republic 5 8 9 6 5 5 6 2 10 Detailed voting results from Israel (Final)[27] Draw Country Jury Televote Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points 01  Czech Republic 8 8 6 15 7 9 2 19 02  Romania 19 17 15 23 10 19 17 03  Portugal 11 12 7 12 11 12 14 04  Finland 9 9 8 14 13 11 13 05   Switzerland 18 16 21 25 22 21 25 06  France 20 15 19 16 9 17 15 07  Norway 14 10 9 7 16 13 7 4 08  Armenia 24 19 18 19 24 22 16 09  Italy 4 11 1 1 6 3 8 8 3 10  Spain 16 6 17 3 8 8 3 3 8 11  Netherlands 10 20 5 10 17 10 1 9 2 12  Ukraine 13 3 3 6 2 4 7 1 12 13  Germany 7 13 16 20 23 14 21 14  Lithuania 23 22 24 18 20 23 11 15  Azerbaijan 12 14 14 21 12 16 23 16  Belgium 3 4 11 17 14 7 4 22 17  Greece 17 21 10 9 21 15 20 18  Iceland 22 23 23 22 25 25 24 19  Moldova 21 25 25 24 19 24 5 6 20  Sweden 1 2 2 5 1 1 12 6 5 21  Australia 6 7 12 8 4 6 5 18 22  United Kingdom 2 1 4 2 5 2 10 2 10 23  Poland 5 5 13 4 3 5 6 10 1 24  Serbia 25 24 20 13 18 20 4 7 25  Estonia 15 18 22 11 15 18 12 References ^ "Second Semi-Final of Turin 2022". 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