YouTube removes Israeli spoof on Gaza flotilla clash
Video of Flotilla Choir singing ‘We’ll con the world’ aims to battle ‘one-sided’ coverage of events.
An Israeli-produced parody taking on the world’s criticism of Israel following the Gaza flotilla clashes has been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim by Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Sung to the tune of “We are the world,” originally recorded to raise funds for Africa in the 1980s, the re-written song attacked the supposedly one-sided portrayal of events that has been broadcast across the world with their version called “We’ll con the world.”
The EFF organization which fights predatory lawsuits, such as downloads and uploads on the internet, criticized the content management tools which pick up on allegedly illegal content and automatically removes it. The organization has said the filters do not always distinguish between legal and illegal content, and thus harm copyrighted material that does not impinge on any laws.
“This is not the first time that the security site Content ID has removed legal content from the Web,” an EFF statement said.
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Israeli-produced spoof ‘We Con the World’ |
“Copyright owners have silenced and removed clips uploaded by teenagers singing a popular Christmas song, a baby lip sinking, and even a lecture by Professor Larry Lessig about the creative importance of remixing,” the statement added.
The EFF said that there were ways in which they could fight against the removal of such video clips from Youtube.
The video was interspersed with clips from the recent Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, showing activists attacking Israeli soldiers in the clashes that would eventually claim the lives of nine activists and leave dozens, including Israeli commandos, injured.
The song was sung by “flotilla activists” going by the name of “Flotilla Choir.”
“We’ll make the world abandon reason. We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas is Mama Theresa,” the group sings. “The truth will never find its way to your TV.”
The Israeli government spokesperson’s office accidentally circulated a link to the clip on Friday, after which they stated the video was “not intended for general release.
The contents of the video in no way represent the official policy of either the Government Press Office or of the State of Israel.”
The clip was created by a Hebrew-language media satire site called Latma.