ISRAEL-ELECTION/BAND Jordanian rapper sues Netanyahu and his party over campaign clip

Record ID: 399200

  • Title: ISRAEL-ELECTION/BAND Jordanian rapper sues Netanyahu and his party over campaign clip
  • Date: 19th February 2015
  • Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (FEBRUARY 18, 2015) (REUTERS) SHEHADEH LOOKING AT COMPUTER SCREEN
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA66LTAUJP1965EADQPNE89ZUSY
  • Story Text: A Jordanian hip-hop group has taken legal action against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party after one of its songs was used in a campaign video for Israel's election next month.
    Firas Shehadeh, founder of the group Turabyeh ("Of the Soil"), filed an injunction with the Haifa District Court on Monday (February 16) stating that the song had been used without permission, Iyad Jubran, the group's attorney, told Reuters.
    "The use was made without any authorisation of my clients and moreover it was, it presented our clients as some kind of supporters for ISIS group and apart from the copyright infringement, there was a harm done to the reputation of our clients. Therefore we were instructed to file an urgent motion for preliminary injunction against the Likud party and its chairmen preventing them from publishing the relevant clip," the Israel-based Jubran said.
    Representatives of Likud and Netanyahu declined to comment.
    The song, entitled 'Gorbeh' (Alienation), is being used in a 40-second online video posted on Netanyahu's YouTube channel.
    The video, under the title "Us or Them, ISIS's Version", depicts four men dressed as Islamic State militants driving across sandy terrain. At one point, the driver stops to ask the driver of a car next to them in Arabic-accented Hebrew: "How do we get to Jerusalem, brother?"
    The Israeli driver replies: "Turn left."
    The message appears to be that if the centre-left defeats Netanyahu's right-wing party in the March 17 parliamentary election, ISIS will end up taking over.
    Firas Shehadeh said he learned of the clip from friends on Saturday, shortly after it was posted online.
    "When we found out what had happened, it sounded a bit weird. We were all going about our daily lives as usual, and suddenly when we saw the video, we were very shocked. It was even funny and irritating at the same time. We were very confused," he said.
    "Islamic State is an enemy to us and it's unthinkable that we would cooperate with this kind of group. It's a terrorist group. The second thing is cooperation with Israel, which we are against (and against) any kind of cooperation or any normalisation (with Israel). We are boycotting the occupying state of Israel completely and this is not negotiable (for us). The song Gorbeh itself talks about the alienation that the Palestinian refugees feel, their lives in Amman and the right of return (to their country). It just doesn't make sense," he added.
    The court petition says the clip creates the impression that the group supports ISIS and could expose them to reprisals by those who oppose Islamic State. Its use in the campaign of an Israeli right-wing party could also deter their fans.
    "We are now looking to file an injunction (against the Likud Party) to protect the rights of Turabyeh members and to protect our copyright and also (against) the ruining of the reputation of Turabyeh and putting the lives of Turabyeh members at risk by accusing them of cooperating with IS or cooperating with Israel, because both of them (IS and Israel) are two sides of the same coin to us," Shehadeh said.
    Turabyeh has four members, three of them descendants of Palestinian refugees, millions of whom now live in Jordan. The song is about their political alienation and longing for a return to their Palestinian homeland, Shehadeh said.
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