Embarrassment for Israel as Eurovision Song Contest webcast is hacked to show pro-Palestine animated images of explosions in host city Tel Aviv as national broadcaster blames Hamas militants
- Israel's Eurovision semi-final webcast was hacked with images of explosions
- The national broadcaster has blamed Hamas militants for the infiltraiton
- The host city Tel Aviv was animated with fire balls and clouds of black smoke
- After a few minutes they were able to resume their webcast as normal
The Israeli national broadcaster's webcast of the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final in Tel Aviv was hacked with images of explosions over the city, which it blamed on Hamas.
As the European music competition got underway on Tuesday night the internet broadcast was interrupted by footage showing missiles pounding the streets and menacing music played in the background.
Kan said hacking of the website did not affect the standard television relay of the show in Israel or abroad.
Israel's hosting of the 2019 version of the European music competition comes as fierce fighting raged in the Gaza strip earlier this month with Hamas.
The video was accompanied by a zooming in effect on locations in Tel Aviv and the appearance of graphical explosions and clouds of black smoke
Towards the end of the video sickening messages appeared warning of missile attacks and claiming Israel was not safe
Kan played down the hack, noting that the evening ended without further incident as Greece, Belarus, Serbia, Cyprus, Estonia, Czech Republic, Australia, Iceland, San Marino and Slovenia made it through to Saturday's finals.
'We know that at a certain stage there was an attempt, apparently by Hamas, to commandeer our digital broadcast,' Kan CEO, Eldad Koblenz, told Israel's Army Radio.
'But I am happy to say that within a few minutes we managed to assume control over this phenomenon.'
Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, had no immediate comment.
Earlier this month it engaged in three days of fighting with Israel that included hundreds of rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli air strikes in the enclave.
Palestinians and their foreign supporters have called, so far fruitlessly, on countries to shun the Tel Aviv songfest as part of wider efforts to isolate Israel internationally.
Many boycott calls have targeted Madonna, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday, ahead of the American pop star's guest performance at the Eurovision final.
The second semi-final is on Thursday.
Rebuffing the pressure, Madonna said she would 'never stop playing music to suit someone's political agenda'.
Earlier this month missiles flew through the skies over Israel as tensions flared with Hamas in the Gaza strip (pictured: a missile is fired from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system along the Israeli-Gaza border on May 5, 2019)
A missile fired from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts a rocket fired from Gaza on May 5, 2019 along the Israeli-Gaza border
The European Broadcasting Union, which oversees the contest, did not have a number to hand for worldwide viewers of Tuesday's show. But an EBU spokesman said that, last year, a total of 186 million people watched both semi-finals and the finals.
Kan said on Wednesday that an Israeli truck driver injured a day earlier while unloading technical equipment in the parking lot of the Eurovision venue had died.
'Our thoughts and condolences go to his family,' the broadcaster said in a statement, adding that it was working with authorities to ensure safety at the competition.
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