'Arab Idol' Mohammed Assaf
'Arab Idol' Mohammed AssafFlash 90

A new song calling for the elimination of Israel by Mohammed Assaf of Gaza, who won the "Arab Idol" singing contest last June, is all the rage on Palestinian Authority (PA) TV, where it has been playing heavily since its first broadcast July 29.

Now Palestinian Media Watch has translated the new "summer hit," in which Assaf sings "O Gaza, sacrifice your men liberally; each of them is worth two," and "It's either victory or Martyrdom." He also calls for "Palestine" to replace Israel, "from the [Jordan] water to the [Mediterranean] water."

The clip also features visuals of terrorist attacks and a spray-painted wall mural of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin and former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat together.

However, despite its constant rebroadcasting on official PA TV, it remains to be seen whether the music video can break into the Israeli market, as it were, with the type of viral success that Hamas's recent scare-clip has garnered.

The Hamas song, “Attack! Carry Out Terror Strikes," which was released near the start of Operation Protective Edge and sung in Hebrew in an apparent bid to demoralize Israelis, had exactly the opposite effect.

Instead of panic, the clip wrought hilarity with its flowery and error-laden Hebrew sung in a heavy Arabic accent, all of which led to it spawning numerous parodies by Israelis.

One of the more recent "tributes" to the Hamas classic is an ironic new hassidic version, released last Tuesday by Yedidya Elbaz on YouTube.