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Jon Ola Sand, the supervisor of Eurovision competitions and Nadia Burkhardt, project manager of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), landed Tuesday in Israel and met with representatives of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation “Kan” and representatives of the cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Eilat, ahead of a decision on the identity of the city and arena to host the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel in 2019.

The representatives of the EBU, together with the Eurovision production team from Kan, toured for the past two days locations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Jerusalem’s Pais Arena and the Tel Aviv Convention Center.

Representatives of the city of Eilat arrived in Tel Aviv and gave a presentation that included a construction plan at the Eilat Port complex, for a unique building suitable for hosting the event.

Yon Ola Sand said: "We are ready for solutions outside the box, and we have done so in the past - they just have to meet deadlines.”

Israel won the 2018 Eurovision contest, which took place in Lisbon on May 19, with the song “Toy” sung by Netta Barzilai.

Contest rules state that the winning country hosts the following year’s contest but the winning state can waive the right, as Israel did when it won for the second time in two years in 1979. At the time the waiver was used for economic reasons, as Israel's leaders cited the cost of producing such an event two years in a row. Israel also hosted Eurovision in 1999 after winning the contest in 1998.

Jon Ola Sand meets Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai
Jon Ola Sand meets Tel Aviv Mayor Ron HuldaiKan PR
Jon Ola Sand at the Arena
Jon Ola Sand at the ArenaKan PR