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NEWS
27 March 2007

Israel:
Censorship controversy over Eurovision song with political message

The Eurovision 2007 contest had a controversy surrounding the Israeli song 'Push the Button' which makes reference to Palestinian suicide bombs and therefore was proposed banned by a Finnish official. The organisers, however, decided to approve of it

There were calls to ban the song 'Push the Button', which is performed by the Israeli band The Teapacks, from the Eurovision 2007 contest because of what some saw as an inappropriate message. The song has as one of its verses saying:

    The world is full of terror
    If someone makes an error
    He’s gonna blow us up to biddy biddy kingdom come
    There are some crazy rulers they hide and try to fool us
    With demonic, technologic willingness to harm
Leading the calls for a ban was Kjell Ekholm from the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, an organiser of the contest. However, The European Broadcasting Union, which oversees the annual songfest, announced on 26 March 2007 that all the participating nations’ entries had been approved.

This 2007 song competition will be held in Helsinki, Finland, in May.


Click to go to Teapacks' home pageThe Teapacks



Associated Press writer Matti Friedman wrote from Tel Aviv in Israel that The Teapacks have enjoyed a comeback thanks to the Finnish official trying to ban the group's song from the competition.


Sources

The Independent – 2 March 2007:

Israeli 'terror' song faces Eurovision ban

Associated Press / USA Today – March 2007:

'Possible ban aids comeback for Teapacks'

Teapacks' home page on Myspace.com:

myspace.com/teapacks

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