Following Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat’s historic gold medal win for the floor exercise in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Sunday, Indian singer Anwar Sardar Malik started trending on Twitter.
Apparently Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” sounds a lot like Malik’s “Mera Mulk Mera Desh” from the 1996 Diljale movie soundtrack.
Twitter users soon began accusing Malik of ripping off Israel’s national anthem. According to the Hindustan Times, this isn’t the first time the singer has been accused of doing so. The award wining singer has also been accused of ripping off Wham!’s song “Last Christmas” for his 1995 track “Dil Mera Churaya Kyun,” Linear’s “Sending All My Love” and Toto Cutugno’s “L’Italiano.”
“Israel won their second ever Gold at Olympics and Indians ended up remembering Anu Malik,” one user wrote.
“Few people know that Israel’s national anthem was composed by #AnuMalik,” another user tweeted.
“Hatikvah” or “The Hope” is a 19th century Jewish poem written by Naftali Herz Imber. The song was unofficially proclaimed as the national anthem when the State of Israel was established in 1948 and officially became the anthem in 2004.
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