info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Reality check: Does Israel employ a double standard on tolerating Holocaust humor?
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Ed Debevic
Aug 8, 2022, 12:52:35 AM8/8/22
to
It was an almost unthinkable scene.
Over the weekend, a Jewish contestant on Israel’s “Big Brother”
reality show walked into a room, delivered a Nazi salute and declared:
“Heil Hitler.”
Unsurprisingly, calls immediately poured in for the competitor,
Netanel, to be ousted from the game alongside fellow contestant
Shahaf, who inexplicably had done the same salute several days
earlier, with little comment. Both men appeared to be joking, with the
former making the gesture after watching his showmance partner apply a
blob of wax to the center of her upper lip.
Producers of the show, which airs on Reshet 13, opted against kicking
out the contestants – despite their violation of show’s rules – saying
that after holding “extended discussions” on the issue, they believed
the situation was best served by an in-house conversation.
In a statement, the producers said that evicting the pair would be
“the less complicated decision,” and instead they sought to “handle
the issue in a different manner, and deal with the root causes.”
So in an episode that aired Saturday evening, Reshet waited until the
last 15 minutes of a 90-minute show – that had the usual drama,
back-stabbing, shouting and tears – to address the occurrences,
bringing in Orna Ben Dor, the daughter of Holocaust survivors and a
filmmaker who explores Holocaust memory in her work, to facilitate a
discussion.
Not everyone was buying it, with many viewers and observers accusing
the show of using the incident to cash in on ratings. After all, the
show could have evicted the two men involved and also held a
discussion in the house about its significance.
“Big Brother” is the biggest ratings-getter for the otherwise
struggling Reshet, and is the most-watched show in the country most
nights that it airs.
Just last season, a contestant named Yehuda was kicked off following a
verbal altercation with another competitor. During the show’s fifth
season, which aired in 2013, two contestants were evicted by the
producers for racist and homophobic comments they made to fellow
contestants. Others have been removed for violent incidents or
repeatedly breaking the house rules.
But the contrast is more telling, perhaps, when compared to the
approach in other countries. Last year, a contestant on “Big Brother”
in Portugal repeatedly gave a Nazi salute in an attempt at humor. He
was immediately kicked off the show, which said it could not tolerate
such behavior.
At the time, the Israeli Embassy in Portugal tweeted a quote from an
article about the incident commending the decision and saying that the
contestant’s behavior “undermines the millions of lives lost during
the Holocaust.”
In 2016, a contestant on the UK celebrity version of “Big Brother” was
evicted for making a Holocaust joke to a Jewish housemate. The move
was welcomed at the time by the Board of Deputies of British Jews
umbrella group, which tweeted approval for the decision to stymie
“bigoted views” on a show seen by “millions of younger people across
the country.”
Over in Israel, however, the two men received barely a slap on the
wrist.
Is there a double standard at play? Do Israelis tolerate certain
behavior at home that they excoriate in other countries? Is it
legitimate for Jews to employ Holocaust references and humor yet still
take offense when non-Jews do the same?
There is no one approach to dealing with insensitive, offensive and
objectionable occurrences on and off the TV screen. And not all
incidents are created equal – intent matters, context matters and the
deliverer matters. It is logical and sensible to hold politicians and
elected officials to a higher standard than reality TV show
contestants and comedians.
A 2016 documentary, “The Last Laugh,” explored the taboos of Holocaust
humor, with a wide range of Jewish comedians weighing in. Famed
comedian Mel Brooks, who wrote and directed the boundary-pushing black
comedy “The Producers,” said in the film that making fun of Hitler was
his “revenge” on the Nazis and “I really don’t give a shit what’s in
‘good taste.’”
But it remains undeniable that Holocaust-based humor is accepted in
Israel in large degrees even when it is often condemned abroad. And
comments and behaviors that would elicit condemnation overseas often
fly under the radar in the Jewish state.
When interior designer Moshik Galamin conducted a now-infamous tour of
the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem in 2015 alongside Sara
Netanyahu, he cracked a joke while surveying a large dining room
cupboard: “I think Anne Frank must be hiding behind here.”
The throwaway comment didn’t even raise an eyebrow in Israel, where
the focus was solely on the always-contentious wife of the former
prime minister. But several years later, the clip ended up on the HBO
show “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver, who could not let the
remark pass by without comment.
“So apparently, at no point in the editing process for that, did
anyone, either in the prime minister’s office or elsewhere, say: ‘That
all looks great, maybe lose the Anne Frank joke,” Oliver said, hitting
the nail on the head.
In 2018, popular Israeli sketch show “Eretz Nehederet” aired a skit
that could best be translated as “International ‘That’s Not the
Holocaust’ Day.” In an “Inception”-level gag, the show makes fun of
both those people who compare things to the Holocaust and those who
aver that nothing can possibly be compared to the Holocaust.
And in an episode of the satirical TV show “The Jews Are Coming,”
which aired on the Kan public broadcaster earlier this year, the show
poked fun at the popular Israeli version of the “Married at First
Sight” reality show. In the simultaneously hilarious and cringeworthy
clip, the show explored what would happen if a participant in the show
– where couples meet for the first time at their wedding – was married
off sight unseen to… Adolf Hitler.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/reality-check-does-israel-employ-a-double-standard-on-tolerating-holocaust-humor/
Over the weekend, a Jewish contestant on Israel’s “Big Brother”
reality show walked into a room, delivered a Nazi salute and declared:
“Heil Hitler.”
Unsurprisingly, calls immediately poured in for the competitor,
Netanel, to be ousted from the game alongside fellow contestant
Shahaf, who inexplicably had done the same salute several days
earlier, with little comment. Both men appeared to be joking, with the
former making the gesture after watching his showmance partner apply a
blob of wax to the center of her upper lip.
Producers of the show, which airs on Reshet 13, opted against kicking
out the contestants – despite their violation of show’s rules – saying
that after holding “extended discussions” on the issue, they believed
the situation was best served by an in-house conversation.
In a statement, the producers said that evicting the pair would be
“the less complicated decision,” and instead they sought to “handle
the issue in a different manner, and deal with the root causes.”
So in an episode that aired Saturday evening, Reshet waited until the
last 15 minutes of a 90-minute show – that had the usual drama,
back-stabbing, shouting and tears – to address the occurrences,
bringing in Orna Ben Dor, the daughter of Holocaust survivors and a
filmmaker who explores Holocaust memory in her work, to facilitate a
discussion.
Not everyone was buying it, with many viewers and observers accusing
the show of using the incident to cash in on ratings. After all, the
show could have evicted the two men involved and also held a
discussion in the house about its significance.
“Big Brother” is the biggest ratings-getter for the otherwise
struggling Reshet, and is the most-watched show in the country most
nights that it airs.
Just last season, a contestant named Yehuda was kicked off following a
verbal altercation with another competitor. During the show’s fifth
season, which aired in 2013, two contestants were evicted by the
producers for racist and homophobic comments they made to fellow
contestants. Others have been removed for violent incidents or
repeatedly breaking the house rules.
But the contrast is more telling, perhaps, when compared to the
approach in other countries. Last year, a contestant on “Big Brother”
in Portugal repeatedly gave a Nazi salute in an attempt at humor. He
was immediately kicked off the show, which said it could not tolerate
such behavior.
At the time, the Israeli Embassy in Portugal tweeted a quote from an
article about the incident commending the decision and saying that the
contestant’s behavior “undermines the millions of lives lost during
the Holocaust.”
In 2016, a contestant on the UK celebrity version of “Big Brother” was
evicted for making a Holocaust joke to a Jewish housemate. The move
was welcomed at the time by the Board of Deputies of British Jews
umbrella group, which tweeted approval for the decision to stymie
“bigoted views” on a show seen by “millions of younger people across
the country.”
Over in Israel, however, the two men received barely a slap on the
wrist.
Is there a double standard at play? Do Israelis tolerate certain
behavior at home that they excoriate in other countries? Is it
legitimate for Jews to employ Holocaust references and humor yet still
take offense when non-Jews do the same?
There is no one approach to dealing with insensitive, offensive and
objectionable occurrences on and off the TV screen. And not all
incidents are created equal – intent matters, context matters and the
deliverer matters. It is logical and sensible to hold politicians and
elected officials to a higher standard than reality TV show
contestants and comedians.
A 2016 documentary, “The Last Laugh,” explored the taboos of Holocaust
humor, with a wide range of Jewish comedians weighing in. Famed
comedian Mel Brooks, who wrote and directed the boundary-pushing black
comedy “The Producers,” said in the film that making fun of Hitler was
his “revenge” on the Nazis and “I really don’t give a shit what’s in
‘good taste.’”
But it remains undeniable that Holocaust-based humor is accepted in
Israel in large degrees even when it is often condemned abroad. And
comments and behaviors that would elicit condemnation overseas often
fly under the radar in the Jewish state.
When interior designer Moshik Galamin conducted a now-infamous tour of
the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem in 2015 alongside Sara
Netanyahu, he cracked a joke while surveying a large dining room
cupboard: “I think Anne Frank must be hiding behind here.”
The throwaway comment didn’t even raise an eyebrow in Israel, where
the focus was solely on the always-contentious wife of the former
prime minister. But several years later, the clip ended up on the HBO
show “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver, who could not let the
remark pass by without comment.
“So apparently, at no point in the editing process for that, did
anyone, either in the prime minister’s office or elsewhere, say: ‘That
all looks great, maybe lose the Anne Frank joke,” Oliver said, hitting
the nail on the head.
In 2018, popular Israeli sketch show “Eretz Nehederet” aired a skit
that could best be translated as “International ‘That’s Not the
Holocaust’ Day.” In an “Inception”-level gag, the show makes fun of
both those people who compare things to the Holocaust and those who
aver that nothing can possibly be compared to the Holocaust.
And in an episode of the satirical TV show “The Jews Are Coming,”
which aired on the Kan public broadcaster earlier this year, the show
poked fun at the popular Israeli version of the “Married at First
Sight” reality show. In the simultaneously hilarious and cringeworthy
clip, the show explored what would happen if a participant in the show
– where couples meet for the first time at their wedding – was married
off sight unseen to… Adolf Hitler.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/reality-check-does-israel-employ-a-double-standard-on-tolerating-holocaust-humor/
Peeler
Aug 8, 2022, 2:21:01 AM8/8/22
to
On Mon, 08 Aug 22 04:52:33 UTC, Loose Sphincter, the unhappily married
nazi homo, FORGING as Ed Debevic, whined again:
> It was an almost unthinkable scene.
>
> Over the weekend, a Jewish contestant on Israel’s “Big Brother”
> reality show walked into a room, delivered a Nazi salute and declared:
> “Heil Hitler.”
Reading JEWISH newspapers? Can't you get your superiors out of your sick
head, you inferior gay neo-nazitard? LOL
--
Anti-virus firm AVG <a...@avg.com> addressing Loose Sphincter on Usenet:
"Hello from AVG.
Please stop advertising us. We don't want to be associated with neo-Nazi
scum like you and RichA, no matter whether you use our product or not.
And fix your fucking sig separator!
Sincerely, AVG."
nazi homo, FORGING as Ed Debevic, whined again:
> It was an almost unthinkable scene.
>
> Over the weekend, a Jewish contestant on Israel’s “Big Brother”
> reality show walked into a room, delivered a Nazi salute and declared:
> “Heil Hitler.”
head, you inferior gay neo-nazitard? LOL
--
Anti-virus firm AVG <a...@avg.com> addressing Loose Sphincter on Usenet:
"Hello from AVG.
Please stop advertising us. We don't want to be associated with neo-Nazi
scum like you and RichA, no matter whether you use our product or not.
And fix your fucking sig separator!
Sincerely, AVG."
0 new messages