As a wave of pro-Palestine protests that have often devolved into antisemitic and pro-Hamas demonstrations are sweeping America’s college campuses, the writers of Israel’s comedy show, Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country) on the Keshet network can justifiably say, “Amarnu lechem” – Hebrew for “We told you so” – as a sketch they first broadcast last November, which seems to predict the woke encampments, has just gone viral again on social media.
The X account for Eretz Nehederet re-posted the clip this weekend, saying, "It’s honestly difficult to differentiate between satire and reality these days. @Eretz_Nehederet called this Columbia Hxmas uprising five months ago."
WATCH It’s honestly difficult to differentiate between satire and reality these days.@Eretz_Nehederet called this Columbia Hxmas uprising five months ago. pic.twitter.com/4nrcKyuGOm
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 25, 2024
Especially prescient is the fact that the sketch is set at a place called “Columbia Untisemity,” since the protests at New York’s Columbia University have been at the center of the news. The sketch features two students called Kelcy and Wordle, played by Eretz Nehederet regulars Liat Harlev and Tamir Bar, dressed in full rainbow regalia, tearing down posters of the 250 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
They chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which Kelcy says she knows is true because it rhymes.
“I totally simp Hamas, it’s so trending right now,” Wordle says, as the sketch presents them as two privileged college kids who have no idea what they are chanting for or against, just as several viral videos have shown actual university students admitting they don’t know what the protests are about on various campuses throughout the week.
Like many protesters, Kelcy and Wordle claim not to be antisemitic, even while chanting for Israel to be wiped off the map – “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground” and threats of more Hamas massacres have been heard at Columbia and much of the Ivy League, as well as campuses around the US – or, as Wordle puts it, “I’m not antisemitic, I’m racist fluid.”
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'Bestie Freedom Fighter'
They go on to say hi to their “BFF – Bestie Freedom Fighter,” a Hamas terrorist ensconced in the Gaza tunnels, who tells them, “You can come to Gaza any time, and we will throw you from the roof, you homosexual dirt,” making fun of the “Queers for Palestine” crowd. Wordle appreciatively mis-hears this as, “They want to throw me a rooftop party!” and Kelcy gushes, “They are so welcoming and inclusive!”
The Hamas fighter tells them they are so stupid, that he won’t waste bullets on them, and the unflappable Kelcy responds by inviting him to America. He assures them he’ll be there soon.
The general deterioration of American campuses from institutes of higher learning to swamps of anti-Western propaganda is lampooned as Wordle boasts that his major is “queer post-colonial astrology.”
At the end, they change their chant to, “From the river to the sea! Palestine will be Jews-free!” which they decide sounds better.
Eretz Nehederet, Israel’s most popular comedy show for over two decades, has been finding black humor in the war since October and has presented a number of English-language sketches like this one. These have included two with BBC anchors and reporters who blame Israel for everything that happens, even when Hamas fighters are heard admitting that their rockets misfired and landed by a hospital, and a BBC interview with Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar which is interrupted by the crying of a baby hostage.
American actors Brett Gelman and Michael Rapaport have appeared on the show during their recent visits to Israel, with Gelman playing a Berkeley professor visiting Bethlehem just after Jesus’s birth, who tries to explain to Kelcy and Wordle that there actually were no Jews in Palestine before 1948, and Rapaport pretending to host the Oscars and lambasting the Hollywood glitterati for not calling for the release of the hostages.
Perhaps we can look forward to a reunion with Kelcy and Wordle in Eretz Nehederet’s next episode, as the campus protests show no sign of winding down anytime soon.