Uncategorized
Ben Stiller satirizes Adam Sandler’s ‘Chanukah Song’ at Mark Twain Prize ceremony
(JTA) — Ben Stiller offered his own High Holiday alternative to Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song” as his fellow Jewish comedian accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
During an awards ceremony that took place on March 19 and aired last night on CNN, Stiller asked from the stage at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts how Sandler’s novelty song, first heard on “Saturday Night Live” in 1994, became a seasonal standard.
“It’s really just a list of rhyming celebrity names, and yet it goes multiplatinum and it’s become a holiday radio staple that my daughter forces us all to listen to after we light the candles every year,” said Stiller.
Pretending to be baffled by Sandler’s success, Stiller imagined what his own representatives would have said had he proposed his own song about Yom Kippur. He then went ahead and sang its “killer opening line,” which included a reference to a notorious slapstick scene in Stiller’s 1998 film “There’s Something About Mary”: “It’s time to atone / So let’s get in the zone. / Got my d–k caught in my zipper / and now it is Yom Kippur.”
It wasn’t the only Jewish moment in a night dedicated to a comedian who, in the course of a tenure on “Saturday Night Live” from 1991-1995 and more than 30 films since, has often displayed his own Jewishness, including playing an Israeli in “Don’t Mess with the Zohan” and starring in what may be the first and only big-budget Hanukkah animated film, “Eight Crazy Nights.”
Fellow comic Chris Rock told a lovely story about meeting Sandler when they were both struggling comics. Rock, who was among just a handful of Black kids at his Brooklyn elementary school, spoke about the one time he was invited to another kid’s house to play. The boy’s name was “David Moskowitz — a Jew,” Rock said, with evident admiration.
Years later, after their sets at a Manhattan comedy club, Sandler invited Rock to hang out with Sandler and his friends at his New York University dorm. Rock said the invitation meant a lot to him as a kid who often felt left out. “The Jews — they’re just nice,” he said.
Although the typical Sandler character is an often crude and frequently angry man-child, his generosity to fellow comics and actors was a recurring theme of the evening, which included presentations by Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Steve Buscemi, Luis Guzmán, Conan O’Brien and David Spade. His longtime collaborator Tim Herlihy called him a “mensch.”
Sandler’s mother, Judy Sandler, got in a dig about her son’s penchant for wearing baggy sweat pants and T-shirts despite the billions of dollars his films have grossed. “He’s a fashionista, they say, but I say he’s a slob,” she said.
In choosing Sandler, 56, for the prize, named for the 19th-century writer and humorist, Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said Sandler has “entertained audiences for over three decades with his films, music and his tenure as a fan favorite cast member on SNL. Adam has created characters that have made us laugh, cry and cry from laughing.”
Previous Jewish winners of the award include Carl Reiner, Lorne Michaels, Neil Simon, Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart. The 2019 prize went to Dave Chappelle, who last year angered many Jewish viewers with a monologue on “Saturday Night Live” making light of antisemitism accusations against rapper Kanye West and basketball star Kyrie Irving.
—
The post Ben Stiller satirizes Adam Sandler’s ‘Chanukah Song’ at Mark Twain Prize ceremony appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Report: Iran Considers Removing Hezbollah Leader Naim Qassem
Lebanon’s Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem gives a televised speech from an unknown location, July 30, 2025, in this screen grab from video. Photo: Al Manar TV/REUTERS TV/via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran is reportedly dissatisfied with the performance of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem and is preparing to reorganize the group’s leadership, potentially removing him from his position, according to a report by Emirati outlet Erem News citing senior Lebanese diplomatic sources.
The report claims Tehran views Qassem as “unsuitable to lead Hezbollah at this critical stage,” arguing that he has failed to meet the leadership standards set by his predecessor, longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Iranian officials are said to believe Qassem lacks sufficient political acumen and hold him responsible for the deterioration in relations between Hezbollah and the Lebanese state.
According to Erem News, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to oversee preparations for restructuring Hezbollah’s internal leadership during an upcoming visit to Beirut.
The visit is intended to assess the organization’s internal climate through direct meetings with senior Hezbollah figures and influential operatives.
“The Iranian minister seeks to monitor the general climate within Hezbollah and convey an accurate picture of the internal situation to decision-makers in Tehran,” the report said, adding that the findings would be used to inform “crucial decisions regarding anticipated changes at the head of the organization, most notably the fate of Naim Qassem.”
Uncategorized
Iran’s Foreign Minister to Visit Russia and Belarus, Foreign Ministry Says
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran‘s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, will visit Russia and Belarus in the next two to three days, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan on Friday.
Uncategorized
Ukraine Drops NATO Goal as Trump Envoy Sees Progress in Peace Talks
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks on at a stakeout during the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, U.S., September 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s aspirations to join the NATO military alliance as he held five hours of talks with US envoys in Berlin on Sunday to end the war with Russia, with negotiations set to continue on Monday.
Trump‘s envoy Steve Witkoff said “a lot of progress was made” as he and Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Zelensky in the latest push to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two, though full details were not divulged.
Zelensky’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said the president would comment on the talks on Monday once they were completed. Officials, Lytvyn said, were considering the draft documents.
“They went on for more than five hours and ended for today with an agreement to resume tomorrow morning,” Lytvyn told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
Ahead of the talks, Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s goal to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees.
The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution. It also meets one of Russia’s war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding territory to Moscow.
“Representatives held in-depth discussions regarding the 20-point plan for peace, economic agendas, and more. A lot of progress was made, and they will meet again tomorrow morning,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
The talks were hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who a source said had made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. Other European leaders are also due in Germany for talks on Monday.
“From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction,” Zelensky said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
“Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the U.S., and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelensky said.
“And it is already a compromise on our part,” he said, adding the security guarantees should be legally binding.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded Ukraine officially renounce its NATO ambitions and withdraw troops from the about 10% of Donbas which Kyiv still controls. Moscow has also said Ukraine must be a neutral country and no NATO troops can be stationed in Ukraine.
Russian sources said earlier this year that Putin wants a “written” pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the US-led NATO alliance eastwards – shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
Sending Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress nearly four years after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Under pressure from Trump to sign a peace deal that initially backed Moscow’s demands, Zelensky accused Russia of dragging out the war through deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine’s power and water supplies.
A ceasefire along the current front lines would be a fair option, he added.
“CRITICAL MOMENT”
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said it was a “good sign” Trump had sent his envoys while fielding questions in an interview with the ZDF broadcaster on the suitability of Witkoff and Kushner, two businessmen, as negotiators.
“It’s certainly anything but an ideal setup for such negotiations. That much is clear. But as they say, you can only dance with the people on the dance floor,” Pistorius said.
On the issue of Ukraine’s offer to give up its NATO aspirations in exchange for security guarantees, Pistorius said Ukraine had bitter prior experience of relying on security assurances. Kyiv had in 1994 agreed to give up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in exchange for territorial guarantees from the US, Russia and Britain.
“Therefore, it remains to be seen to what extent this statement Zelensky has now made will actually hold true, and what preconditions must be met,” Pistorius said.
“This concerns territorial issues, commitments from Russia and others,” he said, adding mere security guarantees, especially without significant US involvement, “wouldn’t be worth much.”
Britain, France and Germany have been working to refine the US proposals, which in a draft disclosed last month called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its NATO ambitions and accept limits on its armed forces.
European allies have described this as a “critical moment” that could shape Ukraine’s future, and sought to shore up Kyiv’s finances by leveraging frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Kyiv’s military and civilian budget.