MIDDLE EAST:The Finnish hosts of this year's Eurovision Song Contest say the organisers will have to decide whether to allow the Israeli entry to compete after complaints about its lyrics.
Host broadcaster YLE said yesterday it had received many objections to Push the Button, which is performed by the group Teapacksand refers to nuclear war.
The track, sung in English, French and Hebrew, is a confident amalgam of eastern sounds, rock and rap.
It was chosen this week as Israel's preferred song in a phone-in television show and the band will go forward to the Eurovision semi-finals in Helsinki in May.
"It has the right vibe and it's multicultural," said Kobi Oz, the group's leader.
"The world is full of terror/if someone makes an error/he's gonna blow us up to kingdom come," Oz sings.
"There are some crazy rulers/ they hide and try to fool us/with demonic, technological willingness to harm./They're gonna push the button, push the button."
The band was formed in 1988 in Sderot, a small Israeli town close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
As the nearest town, it has been the frequent target of rockets launched by Palestinian militants.
The Teapacks hope to follow in the footsteps of Israel's 1998 Eurovision winner, the transsexual Dana International.
Push the Button, can be heard on www.myspace.com/teapacks.
Officials from participant countries were scheduled to meet in Finland next week to consider if the song could enter the contest finals, YLE's Kjell Ekholm said.
He refused to detail the objections to the entry, which is widely interpreted as a commentary on Iran's atomic programme and statements by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel should be "wiped off the map".
"The rules for the Eurovision Song Contest say that the song should not bring the contest into disrepute, [ not] the lyrics or the performance," Mr Ekholm said.
"We have had many e-mails complaining about it."
Push the Button swept Israel's national competition on Wednesday.
The country won the 1998 Eurovision contest when Dana International wowed audiences with Diva. - (Reuters)
