Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

cbabe

(5,948 posts)
Fri Nov 7, 2025, 11:35 AM Nov 7

Why don't you believe Palestinians?': the Israeli comedian putting the conflict on stage

Last edited Fri Nov 7, 2025, 03:20 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/nov/07/israeli-comedian-putting-genocide-on-stage

Why don’t you believe Palestinians?’: the Israeli comedian putting the conflict on stage
In documentary Coexistence, My Ass!, Noam Shuster Eliassi uses humor and honesty to turn a one-woman show into something politically radical

Adrian Horton
Fri 7 Nov 2025 05.01 EST

In the late 2010s, Noam Shuster Eliassi was working at the United Nations, the latest step in a lifelong effort to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians, when she had an epiphany. In Ukraine, a Jewish comedian named Volodymyr Zelenskyy had made the improbable leap from sitcom about accidentally becoming president to actually becoming president. Perhaps, if she were to take her political career seriously, she should start writing jokes.

It worked. As an Israeli Jew fluent in Hebrew, Arabic and English, Shuster Eliassi could nimbly weave between different audiences, and what started as short comedic videos on social media soon became an invitation from Harvard to develop a full-on stand-up routine skewering the idea of coexistence as it’s often used in the Israeli-Palestinian context. The show would riff on her upbringing in one of the only joint Israeli-Palestinian communities in the country, threading a fine needle with self-deprecating humor and an activist’s edge. The aim, she told the Guardian, was to “unpack” the idea of coexistence, “and say, like, ‘this is how I grew up, there are so many funny kumbayah moments, and I propose something else.’”

… more … trailer at link …
5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Why don't you believe Palestinians?': the Israeli comedian putting the conflict on stage (Original Post) cbabe Nov 7 OP
I absolutely love this approach. NNadir Nov 7 #1
Can you update the title to the article? Lithos Nov 7 #2
Ok. Done. cbabe Nov 7 #3
Thank you! Lithos Nov 7 #4
Interesting jfz9580m Tuesday #5

NNadir

(36,956 posts)
1. I absolutely love this approach.
Fri Nov 7, 2025, 01:59 PM
Nov 7

I hate this war because it's exactly like all other wars: Nobody is right and everybody is wrong.

Lithos

(26,595 posts)
2. Can you update the title to the article?
Fri Nov 7, 2025, 02:42 PM
Nov 7
‘Why don’t you believe Palestinians?’: the Israeli comedian putting the conflict on stage

The I/P forum requires that the title of the article match the title of the post.

Best,

Lithos
I/P Forum Moderator

jfz9580m

(16,159 posts)
5. Interesting
Tue Nov 18, 2025, 11:10 PM
Tuesday

I did see Zelensky’s show on my streaming video service but somehow..

It was the same deal with Mo Amer. I watched his interview on Jon Stewart. He seems pretty cool. I started his show, but then somehow it seemed oddly anachronistic given the last year. I also watched a few episodes of an Israeli comedy show Hashoter Hatov. It was not too bad and it is quite old so less incongruous. But somehow I couldn’t continue with any of the three.

This is not really related to the rest of the thread. It’s just an anecdote.

I haven’t really been following I-P except that it was horrifying. It’s especially dark that it’s fuel for neo Nazis that the IDF responded this way to the Oct 7 attack.

I have decided that I have so many issues with the peacetime activities of humans that war is too much to add on. Anyway it’s not as if allied groups don’t follow that. I am sticking with green and animal issues personally.

But I felt bad that I had not donated as much to Palestinian relief as I should. That’s usually my
way of being part of the human family, which is make at least a token donation if I can’t do much.

But I found it so hard to donate to Palestine. It kept getting flagged as suspicious activity and I don’t thinks it’s so much that it’s pro or anti Palestine as my shitty credit card company doing sleazy shit as “ethical hacking” or some kind of social engineering.

They recently tagged a Dair donation as well. I should see if I can still make donations to The Black Agenda Report. Maybe it was a coincidence, but while all my contributions are in this inane reality “radical left” (absurd..I just dislike stale rot and I am not dogmatic. I only like specific people - yeah they are all on the left. But they are still rare. And I live in a communist state where I outright dislike the ruling party for all that I am on the left) at least they are not giving me grief over my animal rights and green contributions yet.

It’s not my bank so much as my credit card. They have always had a sleazy vibe and I have this feeling they have some underhanded ties to this super creepy movement called Effective Altruism that keeps trying to pile on to animal rights. The last time I was at one of their offices this girl came up and asked me about Malaria Nets out of the blue.

I know that’s a hobby horse with those creepy effective altruists. I should cancel my credit card and get a different one. It was just a meaningless interaction. But one of a kind that I dislike especially. I found it hard to make even one donation to Palestine thanks to their constant flagging of it as suspicious activity. Somehow I feel that tracks ideologically with how effective altruists think. They are creeps. I can see them selling creepy shit as gaming or ethical hacking.

That sounds paranoid but these days there are inappropriate enough things out there which should be reported..

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Israel/Palestine»Why don't you believe Pal...