An unknown Israeli singer accuses David D'Or (picture), who will represent Israel in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with his own song Leha'amin, of copying her song which has the same title.

The unfamiliar singer, Rachel Wollstein, was one of many musicians who proposed their entries to David D'or's team, when the possible songs for pre-selection were received. Wollstein claims she sent a song named Leha'amin, which has a very similar melody to the eventual selected entry, which was written by David D'Or himslef and Offer Me'iri. According to Wollstein's allegation, the Israeli entry was inspired by the song she proposed, although her only claim is recognition and not compensation. Wollstein also said to have been consulted by two music professors, who advised her to claim her right on the song.

David D'Or said to Ynet.co.il today: 'I woke up this morning to all this fuss, although the media have not even asked for comment on this issue. Its interesting how this singer, who claims to not have wanted to cause me any damage, approached the media without even having one conversation with me. The song was never inspired by her entry, which I had never listened to'.

David D'Or's official comment, which was given to the Israeli media by his advisers state that Rachel Wollstein's song reached D'Or's record company, together with the rest of the entries. These entries were first filtered, including Wollstein's song. The company's PR manager and Eurovision project manager even wrote 'Very bad' on Wollstein's demo. Accoring to this statement, Wollstein's song has never even reached David D'Or, therefore he could'nt have copied her song. D'Or's record company claims that Wollstein's song, which was played this morning on the Israeli radio, was re-arranged to sound like Israel's Eurovision entry.

David D'Or and his co-writer and the record company seems to be determined to prove the originality of D'O'r's song, and have already threaten to sue Wollstein and the radio station which broke the news this morning. 'It seems to be a yearly ritual when popular Eurovision entries are suddenly claimed to be written by others. We are willing, at any time, to appear in court and prove this matter to be nonsense, if Wollstein and the radio station do not stop making these false accusations', says the official comment of D'Or's record company.