Israeli TV Show Mocks Birthright Experience
In a rare jab at visiting Diaspora Jews, Israel’s leading satirical television show, “Eretz Nehederet” (A Wonderful Country), took on Taglit-Birthright Israel during its season premiere this week.
The program, known for mocking famous political leaders and providing Israelis with topical parodies of the weekly news, included a clip that mocked Birthright, a program that sponsors free 10-day trips for Jews from across the world to tour Israel.
The clip, which follows a Birthright group as they travel by bus through Israel, plays largely on stereotypes of American Jews. It takes a swipe at JAPs (Jewish American Princesses), while caricaturing overgrown frat boys who get far too excited about anything and everything, Israeli tour guides whose spiel has as much to with instilling guilt as it does explaining Israeli history, and South American Jews whose only interest, as portrayed in the sketch, is debauchery.
Furthermore, the clip is rife with references to everyday Israeli life, playing on the Israeli perception of American Jews as borderline fanatic Israel lovers who cannot seem to get enough of the country’s sites, cuisine, and historical resonance.
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