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Comedians are just as capable of antisemitic incitement as political figures. So let’s take Dave Chappelle seriously.
(JTA) — Last week saw Dave Chappelle deliver a brilliant monologue on “Saturday Night Live” addressing the antisemitism controversies surrounding Kanye West and Kyrie Irving.
Unfortunately, “brilliant” doesn’t inherently mean “moral” or “good.” Chappelle’s monologue was a masterclass in how to normalize and embolden antisemitic discourse, delivered in plain sight and with just enough “wink wink, nudge nudge” plausible deniability — mixed in with a sprinkle of real commentary — that one would easily almost not realize that … wait, did Chappelle denounce anything exactly?
He opened the monologue by pretending to read from the kind of apology being demanded of Kanye West, the rapper who in recent weeks had exposed various antisemitic tropes. “I denounce antisemitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,” Chappelle “read,” mocking the boilerplate apologies that often arise in these moments. At face value, it’s a great piece of satire. But then he follows up with the punchline: “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”
He isn’t holding West to account. He’s clearing the way and setting the stage for the finest bout of antisemitic dogwhistling probably ever featured on “SNL.”
There is legitimate commentary to be made about the often disproportionate and racialized vitriol directed at Black Americans who engage in antisemitism, coming from a society that revels in Black pain and punishment. Jews of color, and especially Black Jews like me, have been addressing this reality across social media for decades, noting the lack of intensity and accountability when the shoe is on the other foot — when Jewish figures espouse anti-blackness.
But this monologue by a Black comedian is making no such argument. And it comes as more bold and brazen bad-faith actors are acting out in more and more violent ways. Comedians are just as capable of incitement as political figures.
Chappelle is wildly adept at structuring complex jokes. For years he deftly delivered biting, raw and real socio-racial commentary, from his standup routines to “The Chappelle Show,” and since the 2000s has positioned himself as an astute teller of hard truths. If you doubt the man’s intelligence, watch what he does late in the “SNL” routine when he talks about Donald Trump.
With backhanded praise, Chappelle attributes Trump’s popularity and appeal to his skill at being an “honest liar.” Never before, said Chappelle, had voters seen a billionaire “come from inside the house and tell the commoners, ‘Inside that house we’re doing everything you think we’re doing.’ And then he went right back inside the house and started playing the game again.”
Chappelle took notes on Trump’s knack for saying exactly what he means and telling people exactly what he planned to do.
When Chappelle says there are two words you should never say together — “the” and “Jews” — he’s not speaking against antisemitic conspiracy theories that treat Jews as a scheming monolith. He’s insinuating instead that there is a “The Jews” that should never be challenged. (Chappelle goes on to repeatedly use the phrase “The Jews” in his monologue.) The one time he uses “the Jewish community” is to introduce the straw man argument that Black Americans should not be blamed for the terrible things that have happened to “the Jewish community” all over the world — a declaration so baffling that only one person in the audience responds. After all, no one was blaming West or Irving, the NBA star who shared on Twitter a link to a wildly antisemitic film, for the terrible things that happened to Jews. They were just being asked not to promote the ideas of people who had done those terrible things.
Also on full display is Chappelle’s deft, almost “1984”-esque doublespeak. Chappelle notes that when he first saw the controversy building around West’s antisemitism, he thought “Let me see what’s going to happen first” — a strange and telling equivocation. Chappelle diminishes the significance of the film shared by Irving, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” by describing it as “apparently having some antisemitic tropes or something,” but then jokes that Irving probably doesn’t think the Holocaust happened — a trope presented in said movie.
Chappelle is reluctant to call Kanye “crazy” but acknowledges he is “possibly not well,” but has no problem referring to Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker as “observably stupid.”
Ultimately and persistently, Chappelle suggests that Kanye erred not in being antisemitic, but in being antisemitic out loud.
Most insidious in this regard was his seeming rejection of the notion, promoted by West, that Jews control Hollywood. Said Chappelle: “It’s a lot of Jews [in Hollywood]. Like a lot. But that doesn’t mean anything, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri. It doesn’t mean we run the place.” He refers to the idea that Jews control Hollywood as a “delusion.”
And then, rather than let this necessary distinction set in, he undercuts it, saying, “It’s not a crazy thing to think. But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.” The problem, Chappelle is suggesting, is not harboring dangerous delusions, but saying them in public and risking being called on it. The “climate” is not one of dangerous antisemitism, but the danger of speaking one’s mind.
Chappelle telegraphed this sentiment with an earlier quip: West, he said “had broken the show business rules. You know, the rules of perception. If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob, but if they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”
The “perception” is that only Jews can’t be spoken of in derogatory terms. Kanye wasn’t wrong for thinking antisemitic thoughts, Chappelle suggests, but, again, speaking about them.
There are lots of jokes made in Hollywood at the expense of Jews. This, however, was not a case of Jews being unable to laugh at ourselves. There’s a difference between laughing at ourselves and having someone who isn’t Jewish use “wink wink” antisemitic tropes. It’s not that Chappelle’s monologue wasn’t funny on its face, it’s that it was harmful. This isn’t happening in a vacuum: It’s happening in a specific context, particularly one in which antisemitism has already been riled up and emboldened by Kanye and Irving. (“Hebrews to Negroes” became a bestseller on Amazon after Irving tweeted about it.)
It just takes the wrong kind of person to hear this monologue for us to experience, God forbid, another Tree of Life shooting. I didn’t particularly relish the wake of the first shooting when, as the rabbi of a congregation in Rockland County, New York, I met with county officials and negotiated police presences, and discussed mass-shooter evasion tactics to ensure the safety of my congregants.
For anyone who thinks Chappelle’s monologue was “just jokes” or that I am reading too much into it, consider his last line — a bravura complaint about cancel culture and the unspoken forces behind it: “I’ll be honest with you. I’m getting sick of talking to a crowd like this. I love you to death and I thank you for your support. And I hope they don’t take anything away from me. [ominous voice] Whoever ‘they’ are.”
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Palestinian Authority Celebrates That Released Terrorist Has No Remorse for the Murder He Committed
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling party, Fatah, glorify terror daily. This example, however, was special — a rebroadcast from Israeli television of an unrepentant Palestinian terrorist.
An official Fatah Facebook page, Awdah, reposted an interview conducted by Israel’s Channel 13 with released terrorist murderer Mahmoud Abu Sorour, who was serving life in prison before being released for Israelis held hostage by Hamas in October 2025.
The Israeli interviewer challenged Abu Sorour on the morality of the killing. The PA’s repost did the opposite: it celebrated his refusal to express remorse.
Awdah’s caption read: “Watch how senior Fatah official prisoner Mahmoud Abu Sorour responded to the Israeli Channel 13 reporter.”
Posted text: “Watch how senior Fatah official prisoner Mahmoud Abu Sorour [i.e., terrorist, murdered an Israeli together with an accomplice] responded to the Israeli Channel 13 reporter.”
Israeli Channel 13 reporter: “Do you regret what you did?”
Terrorist Mahmoud Abu Sorour: “Am I sorry for what?”
Reporter: “For the murder you committed.”
Mahmoud Abu Sorour: “After 33 years?”
Reporter: “Yes.”
Mahmoud Abu Sorour: “You are asking me to be sorry?”
Reporter: “Yes, you are a murderer… I asked you if you are sorry, you are not sorry.”
Mahmoud Abu Srour: “Sorry for what? You come to me after 33 years and [expect] I will be sorry?”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, Oct. 19, 2025]
Abu Sorour’s refusal to feel regret is treated as entertainment and a point of pride.
By reposting this interview with admiration, Fatah once again signals to its public that terrorists are role models — not in spite of murder, but because of it. And it must not be forgotten that Fatah is the party of Mahmoud Abbas. So how can Western leaders continue to promote Mahmoud Abbas as a “peace partner” while his own party proudly glorifies unrepentant murderers?
The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
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Shared Hatred Drives Antisemitism Across the Political Spectrum
Mohammed el-Kurd. Photo: Twitter.
There has long been a concerted effort to cloak the hatred of Jews as a righteous movement. The belief that the world would be a better place if the Jewish people just blended in a little bit more, gave up key aspects of their identity, and essentially altogether stopped being Jewish, has roots dating back centuries.
This paradigm continues to exist today. The Jewish people worldwide are held to standards that no other people are held to. They are told that their identity and their connection to their land — if they are even granted the acknowledgement of their inherent connection to Israel in the first place — is the source of the world’s malignancy. If the Jewish people could only give this up, as the claim goes, society would be fixed.
Just as this prejudice has existed throughout time, it also knows no political boundaries. Both extreme left and right-wing activists and influencers online have indulged in this specific form of Jew hatred.
Jewish Supremacy and Political Conspiracies
The belief that Jews exercise some form of control over the West, and particularly American politics, existed long before the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023. After the attacks, however, blaming the Jewish people as the perpetrators of not only the war, but also other societal issues globally, became more visible.
On the right, this has become a persistent topic in podcasts. On The Joe Rogan Show, Ian Caroll, an anti-Israel conspiracy theorist — who has previously claimed the US is controlled by a “Zionist mafia” — was interviewed in March 2025. During the conversation, Rogan provided Caroll with a platform for unadulterated antisemitic rhetoric, including the claim that Israel was tied to a “Jewish mob.” Rogan at one point acknowledged, “What’s interesting is you can talk about this now, post-Oct. 7, post-Gaza.”
Similarly, on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Dan Bilzerian, yet another anti-Israel right-wing conspiracy theorist, claimed that “Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today.”
It is no surprise that Jewish supremacy comments are coming from extreme right-wing spaces. In 2024, 75% of white supremacist propaganda in the US had anti-Israel or anti-Zionist messaging on it. Of all incidents reported, Israel-related antisemitic incidents accounted for more than 50 percent. Still, the vast majority of American Jews describe themselves as connected to Israel.
Yet, the comments about Jewish supremacy are not confined to the far right. Left-wing pro-Palestinian activists, such as Mohammad El-Kurd, express the same belief.
We need to have an honest conversation about Jewish Supremacy
— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) November 13, 2025
El-Kurd claims that he doesn’t mean Jewish supremacy in a “weird Islamist way,” but rather he claims it to be the “belief that antisemitism is a unique form of evil that is more morally urgent than all other kinds of racism.”
But the undeniable rise in antisemitism is absolutely an urgent matter. It is not because Jews are morally superior to other minorities as El-Kurd implies, but because they do face a consistent and unique form of hatred.
Another activist, Dr. Rahmeh Aladwan, excitedly agreed with El-Kurd’s statement, saying that “Jewish exceptionalism can drive Jewish supremacy.” Interestingly, Aladwan has recently argued that the pro-Palestinian movement should never have been aligned with the left and is actually a “fundamentally right-wing” movement because its “motivations are rooted in nationalism, religious faith, and cultural preservation” — values historically rooted in conservative society.
El-Kurd argued that this assertion was “both historically inaccurate and categorically wrong.” Yet it brings the pro-Palestinian activist space to an interesting crossroads of identity politics. This tension exposes a deeper ideological confusion within pro-Palestinian activism. While its rhetoric has long been packaged as progressive, many of its core motivations align more closely with right-wing frameworks.
What is certain is that both the far left and the far right share the underlying belief in a supposed “Jewish supremacy,” which casts Jews and the Jewish State as simultaneously in control of society and the source of society’s problems. It is a narrative that transcends political labels and ultimately unites these disparate factions.
The Jewish supremacy claim is often cloaked in the conspiracy theory that Zionists are in control of the US. Self-proclaimed “ex-Israeli, anti-Zionist,” Alon Mizrahi, has claimed that “Zionists rule your civilization,” which resulted in Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)’s resignation from Congress. He went on to suggest that Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes will be next. Greene’s stepping down from Congress has nothing to do with a Zionist or Israeli plot to control the US, but more to do with her own extreme messaging.
Nick Fuentes has similarly asserted that no matter whether someone identifies with the right or the left, they are unable to criticize Israel, as it is the one group “outside accountability” in cancel culture. Because of this supposed control over American politicians, Fuentes believes that anyone who disagrees with Israel or the Jewish people will lose their platform or career, due to the Jewish people’s supposed power in American society.
Tucker Carlson, beyond hosting Nick Fuentes on his podcast, has also defended Fuentes’ supposed analysis that Israel controls US politics, saying that anyone who disagrees with this control is called a Nazi and shut down.
Unsurprisingly, pro-Palestinian activist Guy Christensen — known as YourFavoriteGuy online — has made similar claims that the “Zionist machine” redefined antisemitism to include criticism of Israel, and fired anyone in the US Congress who disagreed with Israel. What Christensen ignores is that the IHRA definition of antisemitism — the most widely recognized definition worldwide — explicitly states that criticism of Israel comparable to that leveled at any country is not considered antisemitic.
This Jewish power trope that once belonged primarily to white supremacist discourse now circulates freely on the left, uniting two ideological opposites through a shared conspiratorial framework. As such, a narrative bridge is being forged that connects the far right and far left.
When these activists eventually face the consequences of their antisemitic beliefs, it won’t be because of supposed Jewish control over them, but rather the predictable outcome of this dangerous rhetoric.
Sanitization of Hitler and the Nazis
Beyond conspiracy theories, the sanitizing of Hitler and the Nazi regime has spread to infect both the far left and far right.
On a now-deleted episode of the Fresh & Fit podcast, guests discussed how the “Jews were up to something so the Germans wanted to take them out” and Hitler “was trying to save the world.”
“What if the Jews did something to the Germans”, “Hitler was trying to save the world”, “How do we take [the Jews] down?”, “Genocide.”
This isn’t 1940s Germany — it’s a 2025 podcast.
Suzette, a recent culinary high school grad from south Florida goes full Nazi and Pompano-based… pic.twitter.com/BU0jsB4dWF
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) July 24, 2025
Tucker Carlson, while claiming not to support Hitler, has similarly made revisionist statements about the Nazis, recently condemning the 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler and suggesting that killing him would have been an un-Christian act. By framing the assassination as morally questionable, Carlson obscures historical reality and lends moral equivocation to one of history’s greatest crimes.
This revisionism is not confined to online spaces. Copies of Mein Kampf have been found in Hamas bases in the Gaza Strip, underscoring how extremist narratives about Hitler continue to circulate globally and influence multiple ideological movements.
Never again is NOW.
IDF forces discovered a copy of Hitler’s infamous book “Mein Kampf”—translated into Arabic—in a child’s bedroom used as a Hamas terrorist base in Gaza.
The book was discovered among the personal belongings of one of the terrorists, featuring annotations and… pic.twitter.com/XMOE3jgKmm
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 12, 2023
Jew-hatred has become a morally righteous act for those who indulge in it. Whether on the right or the left of the political spectrum, antisemitism disguises itself as a just cause, pleading with the world to make changes to improve society. But the changes it asks the world to make are much more insidious. They seek to dismantle the legitimacy of Jewish identity, erase support for the Jewish State, and normalize the scapegoating of the Jewish people for societal problems. Under the guise of morality, this rhetoric spreads hate while masquerading as virtue, making it all the more dangerous and difficult to confront.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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US Rep. Randy Fine Unveils New Legislation Aimed at Cracking Down on Campus Antisemitism
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) leaves the US Capitol after the last votes of the week on Sept. 4, 2025. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
US Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) has introduced new legislation aimed at tackling what he termed an “explosion of antisemitism” on American university campuses.
The bill, titled the No Antisemitism in Education Act (HR 6186), seeks to mandate that educational institutions adopt a global standard for defining antisemitism and apply the same disciplinary standards to anti-Jewish discrimination as they do to racial or gender-based bigotry and discrimination.
The proposed federal law is explicitly modeled after a bipartisan measure previously championed and passed by Fine in the state of Florida. The legislation would formally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
IHRA — an intergovernmental organization comprising dozens of countries including the US and Israel — adopted the “working definition” of antisemitism in 2016. Since then, the definition has been widely accepted by Jewish groups and lawmakers across the political spectrum, and it is now used by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and United Nations.
According to the definition, antisemitism “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” It provides 11 specific, contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere. Beyond classic antisemitic behavior associated with the likes of the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the examples include denial of the Holocaust and newer forms of antisemitism targeting Israel such as demonizing the Jewish state, denying its right to exist, and holding it to standards not expected of any other democratic state.
Fine’s legislation would also require public elementary schools, public secondary schools, and institutions of higher education to treat discrimination motivated by antisemitism identically to how they treat discrimination motivated by race, ethnicity, or gender.
In introducing the bill, Fine repudiated the current enforcement landscape on college campuses.
“Today, we are witnessing an explosion of antisemitism unlike anything in our lifetimes,” the lawmaker said in a statement. “Nowhere is it more visible, or more dangerous, than on our college campuses. Higher education institutions have a responsibility to protect every student. And right now, too many are failing Jewish students.”
He argued that a “double standard” exists, where universities immediately mobilize against other forms of bigotry but delay or diminish their response when the victim is Jewish.
“If you target a student because they are Jewish, it will be treated the same way as if you targeted them because they are Black, Hispanic, or Asian,” Fine declared, signaling a push to dismantle what he called university “bureaucracies to police every form of bigotry except the one Jews actually face.”
Citing the success of the Florida law, Fine concluded with a forceful call to action, urging his congressional colleagues to pass the measure to protect Jewish students nationwide.
“I passed this law in Florida because Jewish students were being targeted and no one was doing enough,” he said. “Today, Jewish students across America face the same threat. I have a bill that works. Florida proves it. Now it’s time to extend those protections nationwide.”
Fine has indicated his readiness to collaborate with members from both the Republican and Democratic parties to ensure the bill advances.
Since entering the US Congress, Fine has established himself as an outspoken advocate for Israel and critic of Islam. Last month, he posted online that “fear of Islam is rational. Islamophobia is a lie.” He also said that Islam is not “compatible with American values” and has argued that radical Islam poses an existential threat to the United States and Jewish Americans in particular.