Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Sometimes I think we’re our own worst enemy. Case in point,
a Jerusalem
Post editorial that made excuses
for Michael Che’s antisemitic joke. It was not at all surprising to see the Washington
Post cite that same Jpost
editorial as authoritative, in order to make further excuses for the antisemitic
content aired February 20, on NBC’s popular late-night Saturday Night Live
(SNL) comedy show.
“Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their
population,” said Che. “I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.”
Che’s suggestion that Israel vaccinates only its Jewish population, parrots a classic antisemitic trope in which Jews are depicted as opportunistic, greedy, and selfish. This is not funny. It is an ugly lie told with the malicious intent of fomenting hatred against the Jewish people and the Jewish State.
Had the object of Che's "joke" been a woman, LGBTQ, black, Hispanic, or Asian, the comedian would be long gone, canceled, and relegated to celebrity Siberia. Jews, on the other hand, are fair game. You can say what you like about Jews, for as often and as long as you like.
How do we know?
Michael Che’s antisemitic libel, in the guise of a joke, was broadcast to some 9.1 million viewers. NBC did not apologize for playing host to antisemitic content. Che did not apologize for the antisemitic “joke” or the lie it contained, and he was not canceled.
Prominent Jewish and Israeli leaders spoke out against this outrage. They shouldn’t have had to. But countering hate and calling the haters
on their hatred may make them a little less brazen the next time. Which means
that on some Saturday night in the future, 9.1 million viewers may not watch dishonest
content that stirs them to hatred of the Jewish people and Israel. Which means
that some future terrorist may be nipped in the bud before he gets it in his
head to kill a Jew.
That doesn’t seem like too much to ask. The lede for the JPost editorial, however, begs to
disagree:
“Response to Michael Che's SNL joke is unreasonable,” reads
the JPost lede, “If everything is
antisemitic, then nothing is, so the appellation must be used sparingly.”
The thrust here, by a major English-language Israeli
publication is that all the uproar, the furor, and the outcry by prominent Jews
is an overreaction. Che’s joke, according to the JPost, was no big deal: just a tempest in a teapot. And like the
boy who cried wolf, if we keep calling innocuous jokes such as that told by
Michael Che, antisemitic, everyone
will stop listening to us:
Did the American Jewish Committee really have to issue a statement, organize a petition, and demand an apology?
Did the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations need to weigh in with a statement of its own saying that “NBC should know better, and must not only stop spreading harmful misinformation, but take action to undo this damage caused by propagating Jew-hatred under the guise of comedy?”
And is this really something that Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to both the US and the UN and a man whose two jobs must keep him very busy, really needed to tweet about?
Might that not be a little overkill?
Unfortunately, the response of @Jerusalem_Post is just as bad.https://t.co/AVOe52yich
— (((Varda Epstein))) (@VardaEpstein) February 23, 2021
The dismissive nature of the JPost editorial on the Michael Che incident was disturbing. More
disturbing, perhaps, is that the JPost
editorial was used by the Washington Post
to excuse Michael Che’s behavior, and that of NBC. In other words, if the JPost—an Israeli newspaper—says the joke
wasn’t antisemitic, but only “stupid” and “insensitive,” then who are we/Wapo, to say otherwise?
Wapo writer Timothy Bella’s coverage of the Michael Che
incident, which so far has received 2.9k comments, suggesting a very wide
reach, used the JPost editorial as
follows:
Neither Che nor SNL has publicly responded to the blowback, while others have come to the comedian’s defense and even praised him for questioning Israel’s vaccination program. An editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Monday called the criticism “unreasonable,” noting that the Jewish community’s messaging toward more explicit examples of antisemitism would be diluted “when the same ammunition is loaded up to deal with Che’s joke.”
Bella, moreover, insinuates that Che’s accusations have
merit, by suggesting that the territories ruled by the PA and Hamas are, in
reality, controlled by Israel:
[Human rights groups] have argued Israel has a moral and legal obligation to give access to vaccines to the roughly 5 million Palestinians living in territories the country controls . . . Israeli officials have cited the Oslo Accords in arguing that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are responsible for their own health systems.
This is a lie from start to finish. Israel is not in control of PA territory. It is not in control of Gaza. Gaza, for example, has been Jew-free since 2004 when Jews were forcibly expelled from their homes for this purpose. And Israel doesn’t “argue” that the PA and Hamas are responsible for their own health system because of the Oslo Accords. The PA and Hamas demanded and were granted this right at Oslo.
How are u better for suggesting Israel controls territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas? "Israel has a moral and legal obligation to give access to vaccines to the roughly 5 million Palestinians living in territories the country controls."
— (((Varda Epstein))) (@VardaEpstein) March 9, 2021
It is precisely because Israel does not control these territories that the Jewish State has absolutely
no responsibility for the health care of those who live there. To suggest
otherwise smacks of paternalism. (Either you believe the Arabs have a right to
self-determination and the ability to govern themselves, or you don’t. Which is
it, Wapo/Timothy Bella?)
Not to mention that the PA
and Gaza have both rejected Israeli offers of assistance and coordination in
establishing their own vaccination programs. It is only to Israel’s benefit
that PA and Gazan Arabs be vaccinated, since they mix with Israeli citizens.
And of course, Israeli Arabs, and other non-Jews with Israeli citizenship have
all been vaccinated, free of charge. Just like the Jews.
It’s too damned bad that the JPost offered every reporter worth his/her salt, the chance to make
light of Che’s joke. Why wouldn’t
Bella use this material to say that Che’s “joke”—and NBC’s absent apology—are matters
of little concern? Especially when the JPost
piece ends by questioning the very idea that Michael Che’s antisemitic “joke”
has any wider implications or even much import at all:
Is Saturday Night Live antisemitic? Is NBC? Do the Jewish people or Israel gain anything from insinuating antisemitism was at play here?
Antisemitism is a serious charge. It is the heavy ammo. And you don’t need to take out the cannons to kill a mosquito. If you do, not only will you be wasting valuable ammunition, but when you actually do need to use the big guns, they will make much less of an impact since everyone will have become inured to the blast, having heard it so many times before.
Michael Che’s antisemitic “joke” was a lie at the expense of
the Jewish State and the Jewish people that was broadcast to 9.1 million
viewers. The English-language newspaper of record in Jewish Jerusalem, however,
refers to Che’s joke as nothing more than a “mosquito.” This cannot help but
sadden and dismay those of us with a proud Jewish tradition: those of us who
love Israel.
But the real issue and the irony here, is that the JPost made itself a tool in the hands of
those who would demonize Israel and the Jews, by making light of Che’s behavior
and NBC’s nonresponse. Reporters are just waiting to pounce on an editorial
such as this. This is the material that is a joy for them to find, as it lends credibility
to their anti-Israel agitprop.
The issue here is not the joke, not Michael Che or NBC, but the pervasive anti-Israel, antisemitic narrative of the wider world news media. In publishing that editorial, the JPost only served to add fuel to the fire, fanning the flames of hatred against the Jews and the Jewish State. The editorial was bad enough on its own, but far worse in the hands of the enemy. We may not know all that goes on from behind the scenes—we may not see the men and women behind the typewriters—but these are not good people and have not the best interests of the Jewish people and Israel at heart.
