Israeli TV lampoons IS in Eurovision spoof
‘Hello Europe, here we come’: ‘Eretz Nehederet’ boy band takes on jihadists in mock entry for annual singing kitsch-fest
Though Israel placed 14th in the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm last week, a spoof entry by a hit political satire show mocking the Islamic State group is scoring big points.
The video clip for the catchy song titled “Boomzi Boom” features a four-member singing and dancing jihadist boy band wearing IS trucker hats, traditional kaffiyehs and sparkly shirts, and has garnered almost half a million views on YouTube in under a week.
Produced by Channel 2’s “Eretz Nehederet” (A Wonderful Land) TV show, the song mocks IS’s notoriously violent ideology, while referencing the spate of Islamist terror attacks that have rocked major European cities in recent years.
The clip opens with a French-accented host welcoming the band — dubbed ABBU in a likely reference to Sweden’s famous group ABBA — which proceeds to sing:
Boomzi boom boomzi bam
Hello Europe, we come
We’ve been waiting for a thousand years
We are coming to you
Berlin, London, Paris
And Estonia, wherever it is
Boomzi boom, boomzi bam
Say hello to Islam
Come on, let the party begin
Wave with our flag
Unless you’re a fag
Then we have a cage for you
Step in!
There is love in the air
Like in the Hyper Cacher
We will paint the rainbow in red
And we’ll rock you ’til you lose your head
Against a backdrop of a flashy, Eurovision-esque stage, the members of ABBU conclude the performance by dancing around a prop cage before holding up fake severed heads.
Though official Eurovision rules bans “lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature,” contestants routinely perform politically charged songs at the international competition.
Besides the European Union and the rainbow-colored gay pride flag, official competition rules allow only the national flags of participating nations and other full members of the United Nations to be featured in performances.
A document leaked in the days leading to the May 14 finals revealed that organizers this year had banned the Nagorno-Karabakh, Basque, Kosovar and Palestinian flags, as well as the black banner of IS.