Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Israeli entry was selected through Kdam Eurovision 2013, a national final consisting of three semi-finals, a second chance round and a final, organised by the Israeli broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Moran Mazor represented Israel with the song "Rak bishvilo", which failed to qualify from the second semi-final of the competition, placing 14th and scoring 40 points.

In August 2012, IBA announced that a new format would be implemented for their national final, which includes three semifinals, a second chance round and a final with 10 songs. The budget for the national selection was estimated to be €400,000.

In mid-December, further details regarding the selection were released. Three semifinal with 10 songs in each were scheduled to take place on 26, 27 and 28 February 2013, with the top three songs qualifying to the final and the fourth placed song qualifying to the second chance round on 3 March 2013. Originally, the concept for the second chance round involved the songs that placed fourth and fifth in each semifinal qualifying, however the format was revised to include only the songs that finished in fourth place. Nine qualifiers from the semifinals and an additional qualifier from the second chance round would complete the 10 song line-up for the final on 7 March 2013. On 31 December 2012, IBA announced the full rules and regulations for the competition and opened the submission period which lasted until 16 January 2013.

On 29 January 2013, IBA disclosed the 30 songs that were selected by a special committee of artists, singers, composers, musicians, producers and experts from the music industry. The songs were later allocated into three semifinals on 6 February 2013.

The five shows for Kdam Eurovision took place at the Broadcast Studio Complex in Holon, hosted by Ron Shachar and Orna Datz One week before each semifinal, on 19, 20 and 21 February 2013, the songs competing in each semifinal were released to the public online.

The expert jury panel that evaluated the songs in the semifinals and final (unless otherwise noted) consisted of:

The first semi-final was held on 26 February 2013. Kathleen Reiter, Shany Zamir and Ron Weinreich qualified to the final, while Judah Gavra qualified to the second chance round. The results were decided by the 50/50 combination of a jury vote and a public SMS vote. On 6 March, Kathleen Reiter and the song "Ad elay" were withdrawn from the competition.

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Wikipedia