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Alex Edelman, the summer’s hottest comedian, finds a tough Jewish crowd at a senior home
(New York Jewish Week) – When Alex Edelman arrived at a senior living home for a conversation about his solo Broadway show, “Just For Us,” in which the central narrative is what happened when the Jewish comedian infiltrated a white supremacist meeting in Queens, attendees were ready with questions.
But first, they had to get the important stuff out of the way.
“Where are you from?” one senior asked. When Edelman said Massachusetts, they specified what they meant — “No, what part?” “Brookline,” he answered. But that wasn’t enough either. “No, what street?”
Having cleared that up, attendees moved on. The conversation between Edelman, who sat at the front of a dining room of around 60 residents of Inspir Carnegie Hill, a luxury senior living facility on the Upper East Side, went a little something like this:
“Where did you go to camp?”
Edelman: Seneca Lake, Camp Yavneh, a hockey camp and a few others.
“Where did you go to college?”
Edelman: NYU.
“Did your parents ever want you to be a doctor or a lawyer?”
Edelman’s father is a doctor and his mother is a lawyer, “and they wanted me to be happy.”
“What does your shirt say?”
Edelman: “Jesus, the savior of a new generation,” written in the style of the Pepsi logo.
Silence.
The lesson of the day seemed to be that even a comedian who has ostensibly made it all the way to the top — that is, a major solo show on Broadway, national acclaim, a New York Times Critics pick and various celebrity endorsements on social media — can find a tough crowd.
A cohort of residents at Inspir had attended 34-year-old Edelman’s show on Broadway as a group earlier in the summer. Inspir is not a specifically Jewish home, but about 80% of residents are Jewish, Executive Director Sloane Limoncelli told the New York Jewish Week. Edelman’s show was the 18th that Inspir residents attended this year.
On Tuesday afternoon, Edelman paid a visit to answer questions and talk about the show, and once the crowd were satisfied with his bona fides, they asked questions about antisemitism, Israel, Broadway and how he got into comedy.
When asked what surprised him the most about doing a solo show on Broadway, Edelman answered that it was harder physically than one might expect.
“It’s actually so much harder to do the show in 1,000 seats than it is to do it in 200 or 100 seats,” he said. “It requires a lot more energy. Every two days my body gives me another sign that it would like to stop. Like I have a stye right now and I’ll get a headache or something in me will try to explode and I can feel my body being like, ‘Would you like to please stop with the cortisol already?’ I just need to hold on for another two weeks.”
(Edelman’s eight-week run at the Hudson Theater will close Aug. 19.)
Edelman also talked about the unexpected death, at age 43, of his director and collaborator, Adam Brace, shortly before the show moved uptown.
“My director, who was my closest friend, passed away a month and a half before the run started, so that has injected a sad amount of meaningfulness into it,” Edelman told the Inspir residents. “So it’s been a nice little tribute to him. I’m surprised when I think about him. I’ll be on stage a lot and think ‘Adam would like this’ or ‘Adam would be really annoyed by this.’”
Guests also wanted to know if it was uncomfortable for Edelman to make a comedy show about a topic as heavy as antisemitism and how his show stood in contrast to “Parade,” the Tony-winning musical about an antisemitic lynching that closed earlier this week.
“Right now, people have an appetite for levity,” Edelman said, while also lauding “Parade” and saying he was both excited and nervous that its writer, Alfred Uhry, came to see “Just For Us.” “I think the world needs a little more comedy, especially about complex issues. They’re too important not to joke about.”
Edelman only had time to stay at Inspir for half an hour, which was confusing for guests who were told he would be there for a full hour and also that he would perform. After the talk, Edelman left for work and the seniors moved into the lobby for snacks, chatting and live piano music.
For Maggie Burke, the talk was underwhelming. “He was not prepared,” she said. “I thought he would have something else to say.” She told this reporter to give the audience a lot of credit. “If we hadn’t been asking our questions, I don’t know what he would have talked about,” she said.
Plus, Burke was offended at an apparent error on Edelman’s part. “He said my friend Alfred Uhry was 93 — he’s only 86!” she said. Burke was involved in Uhry’s play “Driving Miss Daisy” in 1987.
Myra, a woman who attended the Q&A, said she saw “Just For Us” and said she enjoyed it. However, she was “disappointed” by the conversation that afternoon.
“I thought it was going to be funnier than it was,” Peggie O’Brien, a woman standing nearby, said. “That was kind of a big letdown.” O’Brien had not gone with the group to see the show.
“Not everybody in the audience is Jewish. I realize that that’s the crux of his jokes, but why not lighten it up just a little bit,” added O’Brien, who is not Jewish.
As for Edelman, when asked by the New York Jewish Week if this was his toughest crowd yet, he said “Oh my God, yes.”
He added, however, that it was “a very fair room,” and that the crowd was “tough but fair.”
—
The post Alex Edelman, the summer’s hottest comedian, finds a tough Jewish crowd at a senior home appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel Faces Dual Attacks as Houthis and Hamas Target Major Cities, IDF Expands Ground Operations in Gaza
A Houthi fighter mans a machine gun mounted on a truck during a parade for people who attended Houthi military training as part of a mobilization campaign, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Millions of Israelis scrambled for shelter overnight as Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen launched a ballistic missile at Israel, setting off air-raid sirens across the center of the country and the Jerusalem area, and was followed hours later by a Hamas rocket barrage targeting Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported intercepting the missile from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace, while the Iron Dome intercepted a further three missiles from Hamas later on, triggering sirens throughout the metropolitan area. While there were no reported casualties, shrapnel from intercepted rockets was found in Rishon Lezion. The rocket fire came as the IDF expanded its ground operations in Gaza, warning Palestinian civilians to avoid the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic seven-kilometer road that bisects the enclave.
The United States has urged Israel not to respond directly to the Houthi missile strike, according to a Hebrew-language Ynet report citing an Israeli official. US forces already carried out airstrikes against the Houthis — who have targeted American and Israeli ships in the Red Sea and disrupted global shipping through the critical trade route — in recent days and told Israel to “allow them to handle the situation,” the report said.
Eitan Shamir, a security expert, noted that, regardless, it would not be wise — and neither within its capabilities — for Israel to secure the Red Sea without help.
“Achieving this objective cannot be accomplished by Israel alone and will require the involvement of the international community,” he told The Algemeiner. “The Israeli Navy lacks the capabilities to secure Israeli shipping in the southern Red Sea independently. Politically, it is also undesirable for Israel to take on the responsibility of addressing a problem that is internationally recognized, particularly since Israel is often accused of causing it due to its attacks on Gaza.”
Nevertheless, Shamir added, Israel’s “goal for ending the conflict is to ensure complete freedom of navigation to and from its waters.”
Shamir, who is the director of Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, also underscored recent US State Department decisions against the Houthis, including reinstating its foreign terrorist designation and its $15 million reward for information on its financing. Still, he said, “the impact of these actions on the Houthis’ blockade in the southern part of the Red Sea is currently unclear.”
Shamir highlighted reports suggesting that China was providing financial protection to the Houthis to ensure its own ships remain unharmed.
The expansion of Iranian activities into the Mediterranean Sea has raised further concerns. Shamir highlighted the likelihood that Israel’s navy will need to increase its operational presence in both the Red Sea and Mediterranean, potentially requiring additional vessels to secure shipping lanes. Cooperation with the US Fifth Fleet and allied naval forces will remain crucial to maintaining stability in these waterways, he said.
Shamir warned against unilateral action, saying, “It is not in Israel’s best interest to act unilaterally to deter the Houthis.” Instead, he urged Israel to let the US take the lead, including pressuring Iran, which “undoubtedly has influence over the Houthis, to stop the attacks on Israel.”
Meanwhile, the IDF targeted key Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives. Among those eliminated was Rashid Jahjouh, head of Hamas’s General Security Apparatus, who was responsible for maintaining internal security and intelligence operations, identifying and targeting “collaborators” and spreading propaganda. Also killed was Ayman Etsilah, a senior Hamas security official in Khan Yunis, and Ismail Abd al-Aal, a high-ranking figure in Islamic Jihad’s weapons smuggling network.
The IDF and Shin Bet confirmed that these operations were part of broader efforts to dismantle the leadership and infrastructure of terrorist groups in the enclave.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, like the Houthis, are both backed by Iran, which provides the Palestinian terrorist groups with weapons and funding.
Several other Hamas leaders have been killed since Israel resumed strikes earlier this week, including Yasser Muhammad Harb Musa, who managed Hamas’s security portfolio, and Ayssam al-Dalis, the head of Hamas’s Gaza government. Mahmoud Marzouk Ahmed Abu Watfa, responsible for Hamas’s internal security, and Ahmed Abdulla Al-hata, the group’s Minister of Justice, were also among those targeted.
The current escalation follows the collapse of a temporary ceasefire and hostage-release deal that lasted 42 days, during which the terror group released 30 living hostages and the remains of eight slain captives, while Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners.
The post Israel Faces Dual Attacks as Houthis and Hamas Target Major Cities, IDF Expands Ground Operations in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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BBC Apologizes to Israeli Embassy for Seeking Anti-Netanyahu Guest for News Program
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a memorial ceremony for those murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and those who fell in the “Iron Sword” war, at the Knesset, the Parliament, in Jerusalem, Oct. 28, 2024. Photo: DEBBIE HILL/Pool via REUTERS
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) issued an apology on Thursday after a producer asked the Israeli Embassy to the United Kingdom to help the BBC find a guest who would be critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This was a serious mistake which we have looked into,” the corporation said in a statement to The Jewish Chronicle. “It clearly falls well below our standards. We apologize unreservedly to the Israeli Embassy.”
Embassy spokeswoman Orly Goldschmidt shared Thursday on X that her team at the Israeli Embassy in London received a WhatsApp message from a BBC World Service producer, who was looking for guest who would appear on the television program “Newshour.” The producer said the show’s presenter would specifically like to interview “an Israeli military voice (can be former)” who would be “critical of Netanyahu” and Israel’s new ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
“We want someone who is going to be critical of Netanyahu and the ground offense (concern about remaining hostages, stretching the IDF capacity, destruction of Gaza or any other reason). Do you think you can help with this?” the producer wrote. Goldschmidt shared a screenshot of the message on X and denounced the comments, claiming that it shows “BBC bias (yet again).”
“Today my team received this remarkable message from a @BBC producer at @bbcworldservice,” she wrote. “They don’t want to interview someone knowledgeable, nor someone relevant, just someone who fits the predetermined narrative. There is nothing balanced or impartial about this.”
BBC BIAS (yet again)
Today my team received this remarkable message from a @BBC producer at @bbcworldservice.
They don’t want to interview someone knowledgeable, nor someone relevant, just someone who fits the predetermined narrative.
There is nothing balanced or impartial… pic.twitter.com/pm0loEeUFG
— Orly Goldschmidt
(@Orlygoldschmidt) March 20, 2025
The British volunteer-led charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said the incident is another example “of @BBC putting its thumb on the scale to report its narrative masquerading as news.”
“Another time the BBC is caught out. Another apology. For all the times the BBC is caught out, how many times is it not caught out?” CAA added. “The unrelenting bias on our televisions, from our radios and on the BBC website answers that question. How many more scandals do there need to before there is an independent investigation into the BBC?”
Others who have criticized the BBC’s most recent blunder include politicians in the UK, and international human rights activist and lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky.
The incident followed the BBC late last month pulling a documentary about Palestinian children living in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war and apologizing for making “serious flaws” in the film after it was revealed that it was narrated by a Palestinian boy who is the son of a senior Hamas official. The BBC also acknowledged that licensing fee payments for the film “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone” were given to the family of the Hamas official. The controversy sparked protests outside of the BBC headquarters in London, and an organization of pro-Israel lawyers in the United Kingdom reported the BBC to counter-terrorism police for possible terrorism offenses, which include allegedly funding a terrorist group.
The post BBC Apologizes to Israeli Embassy for Seeking Anti-Netanyahu Guest for News Program first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany Reopens Embassy in Damascus, Establishing Official Diplomatic Ties With Syria’s New Regime
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a press conference in Damascus, Syria, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Germany reopened its embassy in Damascus on Thursday, 13 years since its closure during the early days of Syria’s civil war, as both countries work to strengthen their bilateral relations.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Damascus — her second trip since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December — to mark Berlin’s establishment of official diplomatic relations with the new Syrian government.
“I am here in Syria for the second time in around 10 weeks because the country and its future are on a knife edge,” Baerbock said at a news conference. “We can’t predict what will happen in a few months or perhaps a few weeks’ time.”
As a show of support for Syria’s nascent regime, Berlin reopened its embassy in the country in an effort to improve diplomatic relations, while pledging economic assistance and sanctions relief to aid the new government and the country’s reconstruction efforts.
Of the European Union’s 27 member states, only Italy reopened its embassy last year before Assad’s fall, while Spain did so after his ouster.
In a statement, Baerbock said her trip was intended to convey the message that “a political new beginning between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria, is possible.”
She also said there are “clear expectations that there is freedom, security, and opportunity in Syria for all people — for women and men, for people belonging to all ethnic groups and religions.”
Earlier this month, clashes between fighters loyal to Assad and forces aligned with Syria’s new rulers sparked the worst violence since the new government seized power, leaving over 1,000 people dead. In a series of confrontations, fighters supporting the new Syrian government carried out mass executions of Alawite Muslim civilians.
According to Syria’s interior ministry, the pro-government fighters conducted “sweeping operations” to dismantle the last “remnants” of Assad’s regime, targeting primarily adult men.
However, the ensuing mass killing of Alawites, who comprise roughly 10 percent of the Syrian population, has raised concern among the international community about the safety of minority groups in the country.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa decried the massacres, claiming they undermined his efforts to unite the country and vowing to seek retribution for the violence.
“Syria is a state of law. The law will take its course on all,” Sharaa told Reuters. “We fought to defend the oppressed, and we won’t accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or go without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us.”
In late January, Sharaa became Damascus’s transitional president after leading a rebel campaign that ousted Assad, whose Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war.
The collapse of Assad’s regime was the result of an offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al-Qaeda affiliate.
During her visit on Thursday, Baerbock said the recent clashes had “massively cost confidence” among the international community. Germany’s top diplomat emphasized that the new Syrian government “must have control over the actions of the groups in its own ranks and bring those responsible to account.”
After the recent clashes, Syria’s new Islamist-led government — backed by Turkey — and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group reached a ceasefire agreement.
Under the new deal between the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government, the SDF will be integrated into Damascus’s institutions. In exchange, the agreement gives the Syrian government control over SDF-held civilian and military sites in the northeast region of the country.
Baerbock praised the “historic” agreement and emphasized the importance of including other groups to ensure they feel like they are “part of a new Syria.”
Since Assad’s fall, the new Syrian government has sought to strengthen ties with Arab and Western leaders. Damascus’s new diplomatic relationships reflect a distancing from its previous allies, Iran and Russia.
The new Syrian government appears focused on reassuring the West and working to get sanctions lifted, which date back to 1979 when the US labeled Syria a state sponsor of terrorism and were significantly increased following Assad’s violent response to the anti-government protests.
The Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on opposition protests in 2011 sparked the Syrian civil war, during which Syria was suspended from the Arab League for more than a decade.
Earlier this week, European Union countries pledged to continue supporting Syria’s new leadership through both financial aid and sanctions relief, despite an outbreak of sectarian violence threatening the country’s stability.
Germany committed to providing €300 million in support for food, health, and other essential services for the Syrian population.
“As Europeans, we stand together for the people of Syria, for a free and peaceful Syria,” Baerbock said during the annual donor conference for Syria in Brussels.
The post Germany Reopens Embassy in Damascus, Establishing Official Diplomatic Ties With Syria’s New Regime first appeared on Algemeiner.com.