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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.
The 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.
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