For all intents and purposes, for the next short while, this war is a waiting game. Is Donald Trump going to do the right thing—not just for Israel, but for America as the leader of the Free World—or not? Does he have the stomach for the undeniable risks? Does he understand how he can cement his legacy, at least in terms of the world’s international order, if he strikes down evil?
We shall see. But for now, that’s the only story that matters.
So today, taking a step away from the actual headlines, one of our regular glimpses at some of the comic moments in Israel (most intentional, but some not) in the midst of what is cleary a history-transforming week.
Bottom line, we’re tired. Most Israelis have been woken up time and again, night after night, every single night since Thursday. Yes, you can usually go back to sleep—unless your children, or grandchildren—go ballistic when you try to get them to sleep (again) at 3:00 a.m. But even if you do sleep, a good night’s sleep, it isn’t.
Hence this one:
“The People of Israel lives!! But is dying for some sleep...”
The Lego video at the top of this post, repeated below, makes the most sense if you have seen the Israeli hit series, Teheran, and know its memorable theme music. (If you haven’t seen the series, it’s excellent and well worth it.)
To refresh memory, here are a few seconds of the main musical theme:
Now, you get more clearly the pun behind the little AI-generated Lego-action-figures war. Most of it’s obvious, but in case you didn’t pick it up …
00:22 is based on the now famous Mossad-released video of the two Mossad agents operating well inside Iran
00:29 The Mossad, as is now well known, built an entire drone base inside Iran so that at the right moment, Israel already had airborne armaments inside the Islamic Republic.
00:32 Israeli news, night after night, shows us launchers being destroyed as seen through the camera of the warhead about to destroy them. The grainy pictures that always end in static (because the cameras blow up) are now a ubiquitous theme of the news. They’re incredibly repetitive and fascinating at the same time.
Kind of crazy what an individual at home (no idea who it was) can do with AI these days.
Mossad jokes are not a major category in Israeli humor, at least to my knowledge. But these are not regular times. Hence this, for example:
The news, as mentioned above, is under pressure to keep it interesting, day after day, night after night, while broadcasting constantly. Some of it’s interesting, a bit of it repetitive, and a very small portion nonsensical.
This clip, produced by the Israeli comedian Udi Kagan, appeared here on Twitter. (We did not prepare the subtitles; the clip already had them.)
If you don’t watch the Hebrew Israeli news, not all the references will be clear, so here’s a quick guide:
00:53 — On Israeli live TV, as missile warnings come in, the names of the towns and cities where residents have to enter safe rooms appears in an orange list on the right. Typically, the list grows and grows. But because the orders to enter the safe room are often cancelled almost as soon as they’re issued (either because the IDF shot the missile down, or its route has been recalculated), this disappearing orange list makes fun of the seemingly fickle decision-making. (Obviously, the Home Front Command is doing its very best under very trying circumstances.)
00:58 — the Israeli news loves to bring on former military commanders as commentators. Many of them are excellent. But at times, they, too, are at a loss for something to say (or are trying not to say what they’re not supposed to say), and what emerges verges on the incomprehensible. Thus, this portion with “Dr. Aminadav Finger.”
01:21 — no nightly news would be complete without a journalist in a public shelter telling us viewers how the people there are coping. But the shelters are hardened steel and cement structures, so the signal there is often weak. The broadcast from the shelter’s breaking up is kind of par for the course, leading many Israelis to ask why they’re even trying.
01:46 — During the Israeli news, when they cut for an ad break, they actually tell you how many ads there will be. What this video doesn’t capture is that many of the channels (12, in particular) have a timer on the top left corner with a countdown, so you know how long your coffee or bathroom break can be before you start missing news.
01:50 — Even the ads are different these days, stressing how though we’re all different, we’re in this together. Few of the ads, obviously, are this transparent. But still …
Every now and then, a live interview does not go the way the interviewer had planned. One such instance, which immediately went viral went it was posted on social media, was this VERY REAL Channel 13 interview with a man who had survived the missile near his building, but who gave the interviewer a bit too much information about why.
You can hear the interviewer trying to cut the interview short, but the “damage” was done. Minimal damage, obviously, and thousands of laughs …
Bibi is obviously hugely popular during this war, which for now is enjoying almost wall to wall support. That does not mean that everyone loves everything about him — quite the contrary. The war is thus still giving people plenty of material for taking shots at the Prime Minister (who is now likely, one would have to guess, to be Prime Minister for a very, very long time):
“In Iran they are saying that Netanyahu will pay for this. They apparently don’t know him.”
And as for Avner Netanyahu’s wedding this past Monday night — a wedding that was obviously cancelled (we posted about the controversy surrounding the wedding last week) — a little wedding-related dig at Sarah:
“In short, Sarah didn’t dig the girl”
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