In 2007, Israelis chose Teapacks' (Tipex) English/ French/ Hebrew song “Push the Button” as their representative entry for the Eurovision song contest. [Story | MP3 | Lyrics ]. The band is from the town of Sderot in Israel, which may ring a bell as the town that the Palestinians love to hit with hundreds of lethal rockets. As an unsurprising adjunct, the humorous song also shines a light on Iran's panting fantasy of perpetrating the Second Holocaust.

Predictably, Eurovision organizers said they may ban the song and its "inappropriate political message." Wouldn't want to make fun of genocidal fascists or call attention to them, after all. But then, Europe used the exact same aproach in the 1930s with the last batch of genocidal fascists. In the end, however, they let the entry go forward and it finished 24th out of 28 [full contest results]. But the point had been made.

If Eurovision had chosen the path of appeasement, the second place song "Salaam Salami," also from Tipex. Its about salami tactics (what else?), where compromise with a fellow who wants a man's salami sandwich leads to the continuous slicing of the salami, and ends with the predator throwing him out the window and taking the sandwich.

If those are the top 2 voted entries in a national pop culture contest, I think it's safe to call them a window into the country's general state of mind.

[Correction to the above MP3 link, which is to "Salaam Salami": [Vid/Audio] --NM.]