Naomi Schuster : Humor Reaches People More Than Diplomacy

Khartoum Highlight – Reuters – Israeli comedian Naomi Schuster  Eliassi says humor impacts people more than diplomacy. In her solo show “Coexistence My Ass!” she voices disappointment with peacemaking and calls for moral accountability over Gaza. She also highlights satire’s power to challenge the powerful. “I’ll stay seven minutes, not seventy years. ” Naomi Schuster  told the audience at the Palestine Comedy Festival in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, in 2019.

The crowd laughed and applauded. But that was only the beginning. “By the way, that’s Amer’s joke, I stole it,” she added, referring to festival founder, Palestinian-American comedian Amer Zahr. “It’s mine now, God promised it to me!”.

Few Israeli comedians have resonated in the Arab world like Schuster  . She became well known for her fluent Arabic and sharp criticism of Israel’s decades-long occupation . And normalization deals with Arab states. Her career unfolded as the region grew more volatile . A shift captured in the upcoming documentary “Coexistence, My Ass!” The film follows her over five years while developing her comedy show of the same name.

The documentary premiered at Sundance in January to critical acclaim. But it has yet to find a U.S. distributor, according to its Lebanese-Canadian director Amber Fares. That mirrors challenges faced by the Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary “No Other Land.” is set for limited U.S. theatrical release starting October 29.