An Israeli show again targets both British moral corruption and Hamas’s core rot

The problem with Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals is that he bent them to bad ends. In fact, as strategic devices, they’re genuinely smart. A rule I particularly like is No. 5: “Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.” That’s correct. Tyrants, whether in Nazi Germany or American academia, hate humor. That’s why the videos from Eretz Nehederet, an Israeli comedy show, are so powerful.

During World War II, people understood the pincer needed to fight the Axis powers. On the one side, you had straightforward attacks challenging their values and conduct as an adjunct to military action. On the other side, though, you had humor.

For example, there was Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. As a movie, it hasn’t aged incredibly well. However, it stands out for two things. One is Chaplin’s balletic skit showing the ruthless Adenoid Hynkel playing with a balloon painted to look like the globe:

The other is the speech that the real hero, “the Barber,” who looks like Adenoid Hynkel, gives about the need for brotherhood for a functioning world. It’s a very Utopian speech, and it’s a nice try, but of course, it’s the balloon scene ridiculing Hitler that we remember.

I’ve also always had a great fondness for Der Fuehrer’s Face:

Again, “ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”

Of course, to be a weapon, ridicule must be done right. It must expose a person’s weakness, foibles, stupidity, hypocrisy and, in the case of mass murderers, whether Hitler or Hamas, the fundamental evil that powers them. (By the way, I’ve probably typed the word “evil” more times in the past six weeks than I have at any time since 9/11.)

The comedy team at Eretz Nehederet gets this. Indeed, Jews have spent hundreds of years mastering the art of humor in the face of genocidal horror. That’s probably why this video satirizing the BBC’s unrelenting antisemitic, anti-Israel hostility and the sheer barbarism of Hamas is so masterful. Not all the jokes land, but 95% of them do, making the video savage in the best possible way. I’m still laughing as I think of those disappointing civilians and the “unfair” baby:

Image: X screen grab.

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