Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich joined in on the mirth surrounding his first speech made in English this week in the United States.
Smotrich's broken English was a highlight of headlines following his speech in which he severely mispronounced many words and spoke with a very heavy accent. Some critics called it embarrassing and unprofessional while others said it reflected poorly on Israel's religious education system.
But some people saw the humor in the speech, including Israeli satire show Eretz Nehederet (wonderful country) which releases weekly episodes in which it mocks the politics of the week. In its Wednesday episode, the show featured a skit in which the actress playing Smotrich gave a speech in terrible English.
Bezalel Smotrich laughs at himself
Smotrich also made fun of himself on Friday in a Facebook post he wrote summarizing the trip, saying that "the last five days in the US were important, empowering and strengthening."
Later in the post, Smotrich wrote in English that "they loved my first ever speech in English" and attached a winking emoji at the end of the sentence.
At the end of the post, he once again referred to the speech writing, "and one last thing - for the first time, Eretz Nehederet made me laugh. Ein Lanu Eretz acheret (we have no other land)."
"For the first time, Eretz Nehederet made me laugh."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
The Jerusalem Post was also featured in the skit as the actress playing Smotrich ended the speech by saying "do you want to know where my English is from?" The question is a reference to a commercial for The Jerusalem Post Lite Talk service, in which people teach English over the phone.