When South African comic Trevor Noah was announced as Jon Stewart’s replacement at The Daily Show, the very first question for a lot of us was, What are his views on Israel/Palestine? And soon the Jewish Telegraphic Agency unearthed this crack on Noah’s twitter page five years ago, not long after the attack on the Gaza flotilla:
South Africans know how to recycle like israel knows how to be peaceful.
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) June 2, 2010
Later, rightwing media suggested that Noah has a “Jewish problem,” meaning he’s anti-Semitic, because he has made Jewish cracks on twitter over the years, lame Jewish shtik of the sort that Jewish comics like Sarah Silverman make all the time. Pajamas Media speculated that Noah wouldn’t last another day.
Well, good news, today Comedy Central stood by Noah. Per the New York Times, its statement read in part: “Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included.”
In that Times piece, Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League says that he welcomes Noah, but lay off the Jewish shtik.
We hope he will not cross the line from legitimate satire into offensiveness with jokes calling up anti-Semitic stereotypes and misogyny.
Noah’s real offense may be that he laid a finger on Israel. As Jamie Weinstein of the neoconservative Daily Caller wrote in a piece titled, “Is New ‘Daily Show’ Host Trevor Noah Anti-Israel?,” the tweet above “does seem to suggest that Noah believes Israel is an inherently belligerent country.” Gosh, is that possible? Israel had just killed nine unarmed Turks on a humanitarian boat bound for Gaza, in international waters.
Noah has obviously followed Gaza attacks. The JTA also unearthed the following post by Noah when he attended/observed a rally against the Gaza slaughter last summer. By the way, that onslaught killed 2100-2300 Gazans, among them 500 children. More than 70 Israelis were killed, almost all in uniform.
We welcome Noah too. Jon Stewart was always too careful/cute about the conflict for our taste. Noah is more likely to solidify a cultural trend: more and more young Democrats, women and people of color are taking a very dim view of the belligerent actions of the so-called only democracy in the Middle East.
Thanks to Peter Voskamp.
Update: The story made the national news last night, with NBC featuring a tweet to Noah from Rosanne Barr conflating anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel: “U should cease sexist & anti semitic ‘humor’ about jewish women & Israel.” NPR has also covered the story, noting Noah’s jokes about overweight women. Culture critic Eric Deggans called on Noah to assure viewers that he isn’t “a sexist anti-Semite.” Deggans:
Noah has also said his mother’s half Jewish, and Jon Stewart often jokes about his own Jewish heritage on “The Daily Show.” And it seems in popular culture we’ve accepted this idea that people who are part of a minority group can make fun of that group in ways that outsiders can’t. But it also doesn’t seem that Trevor Noah has publicly identified much with being Jewish, and there’s nothing in these controversial tweets that indicates he’s making fun of himself or sees himself as part of Jewish culture.
RE: Noah’s real offense may be that he laid a finger on Israel. As Jamie Weinstein of the neoconservative Daily Caller wrote in a piece titled, “Is New ‘Daily Show’ Host Trevor Noah Anti-Israel?,” the tweet above “does seem to suggest that Noah believes Israel is an inherently belligerent country.” Gosh, is that possible? ~ Weiss
MY COMMENT: Not only is it possible, but Likudnik Israel’s (i.e., Revisionist Zionism’s) “Iron Wall” policy (partly funded by the U.S.) IS IN FACT inherently belligerent! ! ! Belligerence is the very essence of it.
FROM WIKIPEDIA [Iron Wall (essay), as of 12/09/13]:
SOURCE – http://web.archive.org/web/20131209232359/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Wall_%28essay%29
ENTIRE ‘IRON WALL’ ESSAY: “The Iron Wall (We and the Arabs)”, By Vladimir Jabotinsky, 1923 – http://www.marxists.de/middleast/ironwall/ironwall.htm
P.S. ALSO SEE: “The Ethics of the Iron Wall”, By Vladimir Jabotinsky, 1923 – http://www.jabotinsky.org/multimedia/upl_doc/doc_191207_181762.pdf
I am glad Phil wrote this article. Right now there is some kind of backlash to this Jon Stewart replacement, and knowing how the zio press loves to attack anyone who will criticize Israel, Trevor Noah is a marked man. Either he may have to compromise and assure them he will (like most media personnel) keep off the criticism of Israel to save his job, or gracefully withdraw because of the pressure (Jewish groups), and accusations of anti-semitism even false ones, go far in this country.
As I mentioned before, Noah has lived, breathed, and knows apartheid policies when he sees it, and if he calls Israel out on it, or speaks negatively of it’s on going crimes, those who control the media are not going to be happy. They want mindless puppets that can be jerked around, and cannot utter a single negative word about Israel/Jews.
Isn’t it strange that when it comes to Islamaphobia and criticism of Muslim nations, the Muslims are always reminded about “free speech”, but when it comes to criticism of Israel/Jews, well, no one ever brings the word “free speech” up? Then it is “anti-semitism”.
“Israel had just killed nine unarmed Turks on a humanitarian boat bound for Gaza, in international waters.”
That’s technically true, but we shouldn’t forget that the toll eventually rose to ten.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/05/24/363917/victim-of-israel-raid-on-marmara-dies
Or nine plus Furkan Doğan, a Turkish-American, if you’re counting citizenship, rather than ethnicity.
I listened to a podcast where they interviewed the guy when I heard the rumors. He was very positive about the UK, even if he comes from a non-Anglo family. He particularly praised them on race relations.
I think that is probably going to be key to the ongoing UK/US alliance. I personally never really bought into the whole military aspect of the special relationship. Young people will identify on emotions and values. How can a young minorities like Trevor identify with a state like Israel versus one(s) like the UK or Australia?
That’s what counts. People don’t care just how many soldiers America’s allies sent into a doomed and illegal war. That only counts for the pathological beltway crowd.
It turns out you don’t need family history in a place to feel kinship towards it.
As for your predictions, I sure hope you’re right, but the immediate effect may be somewhat of a chill. He has ADL’s top bigot Foxman’s foot on his neck and a willing media. It’s not just neocons who are slamming him, JTA/Haaretz and even the NYT ran a piece with dark undertones.
If we’re going to see a change of direction, I’m assuming it’ll take a few years as he will settle in. Either way, it’s coming alright.
I am really excited about this. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he/Comedy Central don’t end up being intimidated by the zionists into forcing him to step down.