PingPong (band)

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PingPong (Hebrew: פינג פונג‎) is an Israeli pop quartet that represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000 with the song Sameach (Hebrew: שמח‎, lit. Happy).

The members of the band were: Guy Asif, Ahal Eden, Roy Arad and Yifat Giladi. The band released one album "Between Moral and Fashion" (2000, Hed Arzi) with political-pop hits like "Burger Ranch" (Named after an Israeli chain of fastfood restaurants), "I got a lover in Givati" and "Mr. Israel".

Their hit song "Sameach" (Hebrew for "Happy") was admitted to the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest. The song lyrics mentioned a friend from Damascus who dates an Israeli girl. The band was dis-endorsed by the Israel Broadcasting Authority after waving the flag of Syria during the rehearsal and the video-clip of the song [1]. They refused to back down for the performance in the final and pulled the flag out live [2], as planned, all to encourage the Israeli-Syrian peace^[1] Ehud Barak was negotiating at the time. They also visited a Syrian community center in Stockholm, where the Eurovision was held.

The band was the favourite of the NME magazine for winning the contest, but failed.

In 2006 a documentary called "Sipur Sameach" [3] made by filmmaker Alon Weinstock was released on DVD, following the group's trip to Sweden.