Israeli broadcaster was supposed to declare the country's entrant to Oslo today, but after hours of deliberations, it turns out the IBA's committee is still contemplating between Hare'l Ska'at and another candidate – Vladi Bleiberg.
According to NRG.co.il, both of the Israeli Channel 2 operators, the companies Reshet and Keshet, gave their bids to produce the show on behlaf of the IBA and broadcast it on Channel 2. Keshet suggested this year's Pop Idol runner-up Vladi Bleiberg and a budget of about 370.000 NIS whereas Reshet represented Hare'l Ska'at with an estimated bid of 260.000 NIS.
The intial intention was to declare the entrant today, before tomorrow's debate in the Knesset's (Israeli Parliament) Culture Committee, on the issue of Israel's poor results in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, after long hours of deliberations today, no decision was taken, which means a decision is expected tomorrow. This will happen sometime along side the session in parliament.
Whatever the result is,this will be the second time that the national final will not be broadcasted on IBA itself. Either Ska'at or Bleiberg will be the third Pop Idol finalist to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. Shiri Maymon was the runner-up of the first season and went on to take the 4th place in Kyiv 2005. Boaz Mauda, who won Pop Idol of 2007, reached the 9th place for Israel in Belgrade 2008.