The young performers meant to do something patriotic and positive when they released the song on their Instagram accounts, but they were met with a storm of snarky social media comments.
“It is contempt and contempt for state symbols. Naftali Hertz Imber [who wrote the original lyrics] flips over in his grave, take down this disgrace. The anthem should not be a commercial song,” wrote one commenter.
“If you were in North Korea or Russia you would not dare mess with the anthem, because it is a sign of contempt,” added another. “It does not fit at all what you did here, it is a song that when sung it should stand still! Especially in this period, this song has so much meaning. It is not fit to sing it like that, certainly not to combine it with rap.” Another asked, “Why and why to destroy everything?” “Embarrassing,” said one. “Lacks respect.”
Guy Pines, the host of the entertainment television show, Good Evening, generally covers the exploits of these young stars in a positive light, but he was unabashedly critical of this project. He called it “surprising” and said, as he played the song, “To rub your ears in disbelief and surprise, this is how this patriotic anthem sounds in the new club version from the house of Omer Adam and Noa Kirel.”
The English translation goes, “In my heart, yeah, deep inside it, oh my soul yearns for the hope I’ve heard about. See I’m looking to the east side, been a long time I just want to scream it out. I can see it clear in my mind. Freedom is right there on the rise. Look up at the colors in the sky.”
The clip features the lyrics in white letters on a blue background decorated with Stars of David.
Pines spoke about how the duet came about, saying Adam was working on the updated arrangement of the song with the Jewish-American music producer, Scott Storch, who has collaborated with Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake for a while, but after the events of Operation Guardian of the Walls, Adam wanted to release it right away.
Adam wrote, “So we took our amazing anthem, that fills our heart and soul with pride every time we sing it, and we added some more words of hope to it, in Hebrew and in English, and we also brought in two great international artists, who worked together with us. We remind you that there is nothing like our people and our soldiers, and that we should not lose hope! God willing, good days will come upon us and we will return to being one nation in one heart.”
According to Pines, the idea of including Kirel came about after a weekend of partying poolside at Adam’s house with Kirel, model Yael Shelbia, singer Eden Ben Zaken and their respective significant others in attendance. Adam played the song for the group and realized that Kirel’s voice could bring the song to a different level.
This is the first time Adam and Kirel have worked together and they announced they were donating the proceeds from the song to YAHAD United for Israel’s Soldiers, according to a report on Arutz Sheva.
Pines said he did not think Adam needed to add the song to his list of hits, and said, “There are enough songs for them to chatter about, to play with their chasers.”
His co-host, Dana Grutzky, asked, “When they play this in clubs, do people have to stand?”