TEL AVIV – Israel’s Eurovision bid is in double jeopardy as the Palestinian Authority launches a campaign to prevent the 2019 song contest from being held in Jerusalem at the same time as new, unrelated accusations by a major US record label have emerged charging that Netta Barzilai’s winning song “Toy” was copied from another song.
PA Communications Minister Ahmed Assaf said holding Eurovision in Jerusalem would endorse Israel’s “Judaization” of the city. He has sent dozens of letters to Arab and European parties warning them against having Jerusalem as the host city since it is supposedly “occupied Palestinian land according to international law and United Nations resolutions.”
Jerusalem has still not been named as the official host city by the competition’s organizers. Jerusalem has been the host city twice in the past, in 1999 and 1979, following an Israeli victory the year before. On both of those occasions there was no opposition from the Palestinians.
Assaf continued that holding Eurovision in “occupied Jerusalem would mean legitimizing the Israeli occupation and practices, including the Judaization of the city and house demolitions.”
Meanwhile, Universal Music Studios, one of the world’s foremost music corporations, sent a pre-suit notice letter to Doron Medalie and Stav Beger, songwriters of Netta Barzilai’s mega-smash “Toy,” saying it was copied from The White Stripe’s 2003 hit “Seven Nation Army.”
If Universal’s attorneys prove their claim in court, it could strip Israel of its win and of its eligibility to host the 2019 tournament.
However, one possible solution would be to turn “Toy”’s rights over to Universal, which would make the company the song’s publisher and distributor, and the royalties would consequently be split, Israel’s Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Berger denied the claim.
“I am not a person who works with references at all. No other songs were in my head. Generally, we live in a world where there’s a thin line between plagiarism and similarity, and all the possible melodies have already been invented,” Berger said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM–L-3RwDw
Universal’s attorneys said that the similarities in rhythm and harmony constitute copyright infringement.
In March, Haaretz correspondent Ben Shalev said that “Toy” “closely resembles ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes. Let’s hope Jack White doesn’t hear this song before the Eurovision Song Contest. He may sue.”
Regardless of whether or not the case is taken to court, Jerusalem will still have a battle ahead with the Palestinians’ latest drive to stop the Eurovision from taking place there.
Assaf warned that going ahead with the move would “constitute a grave violation of the international law, especially the 4th Geneva Convention, which prohibits altering the status of the city which is under occupation.”
According to Assaf, the Palestinian campaign has received support from the the heads of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), a pan-Arab coalition of public broadcasters.
He added that ASBU heads have sent letters to a number of European institutions urging them to change the 2019 Eurovision venue to a different country altogether in order to avoid “harming the feelings of the Palestinian people and hundreds of millions of Arab Muslims and Christians.”
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