Errr- Who pushed the Button - Teapacks is elimanted.

Israeli band fails to make it to final contest. Kobi Oz: ‘disappointed, but had fun’. Israeli delegation’s appeal to EBU denied

During Teapacks performance there seemed to be a major equipment failure and a segment of the song being voted apon was broadcast with a blank red screen Funny enough this technical 'glitz' didn't occur to the authors knowledge for any other band.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Shortly before the judges gave their verdict on which bands would continue on to the next round, it was reported that the director of the Culture and Entertainment Department of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Yoav Ginai, submitted an appeal to the Eurovision management after the band's performance was cut off in the middle of the semifinals broadcast.

The Israeli Delgation asked for either the song to be reperformed or for some points compensation for the tecnical problem

As for the blank screen during the teapacks performance in Helsinki, speculation may indicate that it was a form of censorship, if this is the case surely the impact of the censorship could have been lessoned by more sensitive handling.... There has been speculation some forums it may have well been deliberate sabotage.

Thee Band has already had a major run in with the Eurovision production crew. This is on top of the head of Broadcasting being the same person who chose to ' declare' their was a serious problem with Teapacks submission, before the commitee had even meet.

" ...Eurovision had a chance to disqualify us, and they didn't disqualify. But if they are going to take our message and ...and ... strangle it in bad shooting and sloppy directing, there is no way we are going to do it. Maybe we will disqualify it ourselves," the lead singer of Teapacks said as he threatened to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest. "

Someone in helsinki must've "pushed the button" ..was it sabotage? no other country had this "problem".. in my opinion it was censorship.

ELSINKI - Teapacks, Israel's representative to the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, did not pass the semi-final Thursday night.

The ten countries that made it to the finals were Belarus, Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Georgia, Latvia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Moldovia.

"We're disappointed, but we had fun," Teapacks band member Kobi Oz told Ynet.

Roughly an hour after the end of the contest, the Teapacks crew arrived at their hotel, showing good sportsmanship about their loss. "We have no complaints. We had fun, it was awesome," Oz said. "In any case I'm happy about the experience, and I'm really proud of us."

Teapacks song choice, "Push the Button", had spurred controversy due to its references to the Iranian nuclear program. “This shouldn’t be treated as a something too momentous” said Yoav Ginai, head of the Israeli delegation, “its entertainment and the rules can sometimes play in our favor, and sometimes it just goes the other way.”

Many in the Israeli delegation sensed from the beginning the odds were not in Teapacks’ favor. “This was one of our best performances, and hopefully we’ll do even better in two days” said Oz after the show, unaware of the technical error in the broadcast, cutting the performance for a few seconds.

Ginai approached the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), requesting the song be played again, since “this probably hurt its chances”. The EBU denied the request, after determining the disruptions minor.

This is the second time Israel’s failed to make it into the final Eurovision Song Contest. In 2004 it was David Da’or who didn’t make it into the finals. In 2005, Shiri Mimon finished in fourth place, securing Eddie Butler’s place in the 2006 final. He came in the bottom two.

References:
Ynet News
JPost