Nuke song allowed in Eurovision contest

Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest will allow Israel's entry Push the Button into this year's competition despite complaints about its lyrics, which refer to nuclear war.

The European Broadcasting Union, which arranges the annual event, said yesterday no songs had been barred or changed ahead of the finals in Helsinki in May.

"They have all been cleared. The songs were all according to the rules," the EBU's Svante Stockselius told a news conference. He declined to comment on individual entries.

Host broadcaster Finland's YLE said earlier this month it had received many objections to the song, widely interpreted as a commentary on Iran's atomic program and statements by its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel should be "wiped off the map".

The Israel Broadcast Authority, which sponsors the country's Eurovision contestants, said in statement that Push the Button, performed by the band Teapacks, had been approved by the EBU in Helsinki.

"We are very happy and excited," Hagit Novick-Salomon, a spokeswoman for Teapacks, said in Israel, where the tune overwhelmingly won a Eurovision selection contest last month.

She said the band had been confident its song would be approved for its broad appeal. "We have been rehearsing as scheduled in anticipation, and look forward to the trip" to Helsinki for the May 10 competition, Novick-Salomon said.

Songs with a political message are generally not allowed at the contest usually predominated by syrupy pop tunes, and some countries have been asked to alter the lyrics of their entries in the past, Eurovision organizers have said.

Israel has won three Eurovision competitions, the most recent in 1998 when transsexual Dana International wowed audiences with Diva.

Source: China Daily/agencies