Israel only selected its 2007 Eurovision Song Contest entry just two days ago, and it is already facing controversy and even a possible disqualification by the EBU.

The song Push the button was selected this Monday in the Israeli national final to be the one the band Teapacks will sing for Israel in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. The song is already causing controversy and even a possible disqualification, due to the political references and texts in the song:

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….

(Translation from Hebrew:)
Messages are exploding above me
missiles flying over me and falling on me…
Between a rocket and a weapon
between a kidnapped person and opportunism…
nothing is what everybody does.

"It's absolutely clear that this kind of message is not appropriate for the competition",said Kjell Ekholm of the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest's reference group. Ekholm also said that this matter will be discussed during the expected meeting of the heads of delegations in Helsinki soon. A possible disqualification of the Israeli entry is an option, in light of one paragraph in the Eurovision Song Contest's regulations, which says: "… No lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature shall be permitted during the ESC… A breach of this rule may result in disqualification".

Leader of Teapacks, Kobi OZ, who also wrote the song, said to Ynet.co.il: "I am not frightened of this whole thing. We have not received any notice from EBU so we move on with our preparations for Helsinki. I know this song is not political. It does warn against the perils of a nuclear war and crazy leaders who might push the button. Some may think it refers to Israeli leaders, some may think it talks about other countries' leaders. We are not taking sides. The message we wish to convey is that all we want is to live, smell the flowers bloom and have fun. Last year all of Europe had a laugh on horror movies monsters from Finland. This year we give the opportunity to laugh on the living monsters among us".

IBA's head of delegation to Eurovision, Yoav Ginay, told Ynet.co.il: "After it was selected, the song was sent to the EBU, in compliance to the contest's regulations. We act according to the contest's rules, as we always did. We did not receive any complaint so far from the EBU in this matter".