Iranian-Israeli Jewish Comedian's Video Goes Viral in the Arab World

Earlier this year we profiled stand-up comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi, the daughter of an Iranian-born Jewish mother, and a father who was born in Jerusalem to Holocaust survivor parents from Romania.

The politically active comedian joked about rapprochement between Israel, Arab states - and made a joke that went viral in the Arab world. She broadcast a proposal to "support her party" to none other than Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The party is one that she jokingly created called Naama. 

“I’m starting a party called Naama, so we can work together for peace in the Middle-East. I know you don’t want to get involved in Israeli politics. But if you could support the Naama party - or just support Naama - that would be really great.” 

The joke was picked up by journalists and TV hosts in Arab media. “It is my dream as a comedian to make jokes that shift the power dynamics,” she told Haaretz in a recent interview. 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Funny Israeli Commercials: John Cleese Authorizes Air Strike While Eating Chocolate Spread

It's been awhile since we last posted a funny Israeli commercial, but this week we found a new one featuring Monty Python veteran John Cleese in the role of a Western general discussing possible air strikes against an unnamed target.

The commercial is getting lots of publicity in Israel. As Gabe Fisher wrote in The Times of Israel,

...in a new Israeli commercial, the British comedian and former Monty Python member appears to approve a strike on the Islamic Republic, along the way promoting Sababa Egozim chocolate-hazelnut spread.

The commercial, released on YouTube Thursday, features a group of Israeli military leaders entreating a trio of Western generals, led by Cleese as “General Rogers,” to approve an attack on an unnamed target, saying they “will be in and out in 33 minutes” and that “we have the right to defend ourselves!”

Cleese then takes a taste of a conveniently-located container of the sweet spread and dryly says “Sababa Egozim,” which the Israelis take as permission to order a strike.

“Sababa” means “cool” in Israeli slang (taken from the Arabic, like many Hebrew slang words) and “egozim” are “nuts.” Put together, though, the term is slang for “super cool” or “hell yeah.”

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)
 

Funny Israeli Commercial Causes Friction Between Samsung and Iran

Israel's newspaper Haaretz reported this week that Iran is mulling a partial ban of products manufactured by South Korean electronics giant Samsung over an Israeli commercial promoting one of the firm's products which depicts the imagined destruction of Iran's nuclear facility in Isfahan by Mossad operatives.

In the commercial for the cable TV company HOT, three characters from the popular show Asfur arrive disguised as women near the nuclear facility, where they meet a bored Mossad agent passing the time by watching the show on his Samsung tablet.

The Mossad man then shows the various features of the tablet to the characters, when one of the "visiting" Israelis accidently pushes a button which causes the nuclear plant in the background to explode. 

To this, the character said: "What? Another mysterious explosion in Iran," a quip referring to a series of explosions in Iran targeting the countries military facilities which have been attributed in the foreign media to covert Israeli attempts to target Iran's nuclear program.

On Thursday, a top Iranian lawmaker said Iran's parliament was considering to cut the country's trade ties with the country, over what he said was an "insulting" commercial, over the depiction of Iran as a "primitive society" and of insinuating that Israel was "powerful enough to easily destroy Iran's nuclear facilities or assassinate the country's nuclear scientists." 

The commercial is in Hebrew, but the clip we reproduce below has English subtitles and in the first 50 seconds of the video a few terms are introduced that will help to make the commercial more understandable. Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)