Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Entry selection

IBA confirmed Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 on 10 October 2013. On 4 December 2013, IBA announced that it would conduct an internal selection to select the artist that would represent Israel and a national final to select the song for the artist. A special committee consisting of music industry professionals selected the Israeli artist, while a televised show featuring three songs performed by the selected artist was staged to select the song.

Artist selection

On 11 January 2014, IBA announced that Mei Finegold was selected as the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The selection committee considered sixteen artists, of which Maya Bouskilla and Ella Doron were highly considered before Finegold was ultimately selected. The members of the committee were Bracha Ofir (retired judge), Izchak Sonnenschein (Head of Israeli Eurovision delegation), Udi Bezalel (delegation member), Moshe Morad (director of 88FM), Tali Katz (Channel 1 music editor), Tal Argaman (music editor at 88FM), Leon Kichler (former vice president of OGAE Israel), Liron Ben-Shimon (musician and producer) and Ofer Shafrir (show director).

Kdam Eurovision 2014

The song that Mei Finegold represented Israel with in Copenhagen was selected through a three song national final called Kdam Eurovision 2014. IBA opened the public song submission following the announcement of Finegold as the selected artist with the deadline on 28 January 2014. 78 songs were submitted by the public, which were subsequently evaluated by a committee that shortlisted ten songs. Ultimately two of the songs were selected from the public submissions and one song was provided by Finegold for the competition. Mei Finegold filmed videoclips for the three songs which were presented during a presentation show on 27 February 2014. Following the presentation, voting commenced for the three songs. The winning song "Same Heart" was selected solely by the SMS votes from the public and was revealed during a special televised broadcast on 5 March 2014.

At Eurovision

Due to the approval from the European Broadcasting Union regarding a request made by the Israeli delegation to avoid complications with a national holiday coinciding with the date of the first semifinal (6 May 2014), Israel competed in the second semi-final on 8 May 2014 for a place in the final on 10 May 2014. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Israel was drawn to compete in the first half of the second semi-final. In the second semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Israel would perform 2nd, following Malta and preceding Norway. Israel failed to qualify from the second semi-final, placing 14th in a field of 15 songs with a score of 19 points.

On stage, Mei Finegold was joined by two female dancers: Shiran Lagziel and Marin Termetz. The Israeli performance featured Finegold performing choreography with the two dancers. The stage atmosphere transitioned between red, blue and gold colours and the LED screens project black architectural shapes and designs.

In Israel, both the semi-finals and the finals were broadcast with Hebrew subtitles on Channel 1 and with Arabic subtitles on Channel 33. The shows were also broadcast via radio on 88 FM with commentary by Kobi Menora and Yuval Caspin. The Israeli spokesperson revealing the result of the Israeli vote in the final was Ofer Nachson.

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Israeli jury:

Semi-final 2

The Israeli votes in the second semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.

Final

The Israeli votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.