Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The Israeli entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was selected through the national final Kdam Eurovision 2011. The competition took place on 8 March 2011 at the Culture Hall in Rishon LeZion, hosted by 2005 Israeli Eurovision entrant Shiri Maimon and Aki Avni and was broadcast on Channel 1 as well as online via IBA's official Eurovision Song Contest website Eurovil.[4]

On 28 December 2010, IBA opened the public application with the deadline on 25 January 2011. IBA also directly invited artists to participate in the competition.[5][6] Artists that applied for the competition were then required to submit two to three songs each and ten entries were chosen by a special committee consisting of music industry professionals and members from IBA and announced on 8 February 2011. Among the competing artists was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, Dana International.[7][8][9] The members of the committee were Yaakov Naveh (IBA artists representative), Yoav Ginai (entertainment director of IBA), Noam Gil-Or (director of Reshet Gimmel), Yuval Ganor (director of 88FM), Rina Hachmon (Kdam Eurovision producer), Idit Ben Eliyahu (producer of the Channel 1 programme Local Noise), Yossi Gispan (lyricist), David Krivoshei (musician), Izhar Cohen (winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1978), Gilad Segev (musician) and Tal Barnea (former EBU project manager).[3] The competing songs were presented during a press conference together with the running order on 28 February 2011 held at the Shablul Jazz Club in Tel Aviv and hosted by Shiri Maimon and Aki Avni.[10] On 20 February 2011, "Lirkod" performed by Vladi Blayberg was withdrawn from the competition and initially replaced with the song "Suicide for Love" performed by Adi Cesare, which was also withdrawn on 23 February 2011 and replaced with the song "Nosa'at el ga'agu'ay" performed by Carmel Eckmann.[11][12]

The final took place on 8 March 2011. Ten entries competed and the winner, "Ding Dong" performed by Dana International, was selected by a combination of the votes from five voting groups: three thematical jury groups (12%), an expert jury (40%) and a public vote (48%).[13][14] The public vote that took place during the show was conducted through telephone and SMS. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show hosts Shiri Maimon and Aki Avni, the Voca People and Pnina Rosenblum and Tzioprale's Ansambel Group performed as the interval acts.[4] The expert jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Amir Gilat (Head of IBA), Yaakov Naveh (IBA artists representative), Izhar Cohen (winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1978), Yoav Ginai (entertainment director of IBA), Noam Gil-Or (director of Reshet Gimmel), Rina Hachmon (Kdam Eurovision producer), Idit Ben Eliyahu (producer of the Channel 1 programme Local Noise), Gilad Segev (musician), Tal Barnea (former EBU project manager), Yossi Gispan (lyricist), David Krivoshei (musician) and Yuval Ganor (director of 88FM).

Dana International took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. This included the jury show on 11 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Israeli performance featured Dana International performing in a draped light green dress with a scale effect designed by French designer Jean Paul Gaultier who also designed one of her two dresses worn in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, together with five female backing vocalists in white mid-length dresses standing in two rows on the left hand side of the stage. The LED screens on the stage displayed red and blue circles that pulsate and move around the screens. The performance was concluded with International walking down the stage's catwalk towards the audience.[17][18]

At the end of the show, Israel was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Israel placed fifteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 38 points.[19][20]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding points from 1-8, 10 and 12 as determined by a combination of 50% national jury and 50% televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Israel and awarded by Israel in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Sweden in the semi-final and the final of the contest.