Uncategorized
In ‘Coexistence, My Ass!’ the anxiety of an Israeli influencer
There are plenty of funny lines in Coexistence, My Ass! but make no mistake, this is not a comedy. As director Amber Fares follows Israeli comedian and peace activist Noam Shuster Eliassi from her excited 2019 arrival at Harvard on a stand-up and peace-building fellowship (who knew such a thing existed?!) through escalating political and pandemic problems to her anguish at the war in Gaza, the documentary is nothing less than a tragedy.
Shuster Eliassi leapt to fame in early 2019 with “Dubai Dubai,”a song of “peace and love” in the wake of the Abraham Accords which celebrated Arabs (“especially when they are 4000 miles away”). It was satire, in Arabic, on Israeli television (Shuster Eliassi also speaks Farsi). She was poking fun at Israel’s peace with UAE’s millionaires while both sides ignored “those who suffered the Nakba.” She properly went viral across the region, though, when she jokingly proposed marriage to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on an Arabic-language program of the Israeli news channel i24. Arabic news outlets and social media were not sure what to make of it but Israeli and western news outlets knew that the furor and fluster were newsworthy.
Shuster Eliassi notes in Coexistence that her movement to comedy vindicated her decision to move away from more serious peace-building. ”20 years of peace activism, I influence 20 people. One joke about dictators, 20 million people saw it!” If she wanted to achieve her dream of peace in the Middle East, maybe she was right to use the power of social media to amplify her gift of making people laugh.
Filmed over five of the bleakest years for believers in democracy and equality in Israel, Coexistence also follows Shuster Eliassi from hope to despair. After COVID, Fares made a short documentary about Shuster Eliassi for the New Yorker – “How One Woman Is Using Comedy To Speak Up About Palestinian Rights.” From that moment of hope though, Benjamin Netanyahu’s anti-democratic push, Oct. 7, and the Israel Gaza War render the 2021 film obsolete.
The title Coexistence, My Ass! changes its significance through the movie. Initially, Shuster Eliassi scoffs at “coexistence” as a risible minimum aim, one so boring it puts her to sleep. By the end of the movie in 2024, when extremists on both sides have succeeded in destroying trust in humanity and any hope for peace, even that low bar seems unattainable. The phrase – also the name of Shuster Eliassi’s standup show — is Coexistence, My Ass! because “coexistence” no longer even seems possible.
As a child of Romanian and Iranian parents in Neve Shalom/Wahat as-Salam (Oasis of Peace), Shuster Eliassi grew up in a particular limelight. Set up as a cooperative village where Israeli Jews, Muslims and Christians could live together, the small settlement of about 60 families was a regular stop for American peacebuilding luminaries. The documentary features archival footage of Jane Fonda speaking there in 2002 as well as a young Shuster Eliassi handing flowers to Hillary Clinton in 1998.
When the first IDF soldier from Neve Shalom gets killed, news crews come to the village and end up interviewing Shuster Eliassi, then a grade school student who had known him and looked up to him. Even as a young woman, Shuster Eliassi is able to voice her pain without becoming embroiled in the conflict. Indeed, one of the film’s most compelling arguments for something more than coexistence is her best friend from home Ranin, an Arab. When Shuster Eliassi breaks her leg in an accident, Ranin pushes her wheelchair up a hill. They joke about Arabs and Jews (“How is it that the Arabs always end up serving the Jews?” Ranin asks.) They speak in Hebrew and Arabic, and argue about which language should come first in the name of their home, Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom. They are a visible embodiment of how easy it is to have an Arab-Jewish family, of how coexistence could be the least possible problem.
We see Shuster Eliassi perform in 2018 at East Jerusalem’s 1001 Laughs Palestine Comedy Festival. There she assures the uncertain audience that her set is short, with a joke about the Occupation: “I’m only staying for 7 minutes, not 70 years.” She adds that she stole the joke from the Palestinian-American emcee Amer Zahr. “But it’s mine now, God promised it to me!” she says. The crowd seems to love it.
Five years later, though, the atmosphere is much more tense. While the troubles had been escalating throughout 2023, Oct. 7 was a rupture, and Shuster Eliassi finds herself stuck between her communities. We see her called to condemn the people who committed the atrocities on Oct. 7 and also to condemn the government that is about to retaliate. She is aghast that there seems to be no time for her to mourn the human lives that were lost.
Fares, best known for Speed Sisters, her documentary about the first all-female car-racing team of Palestinian drivers in the West Bank, captures the ratcheted-up post-COVID tempo. When Arabs and Jews are stuck, COVID-infected, in “Corona Hotel,” they live happily together, it’s only with the chance of an Arab-Israeli peace that excludes the (Iranians and) Palestinians that Hamas starts serious sabotage. Its rocket attacks, intercepted by the Iron Dome, change the feeling in Israel.
Instead of a country moving slowly towards coexistence and peace, Israeli news shows “Arabs being attacked live on TV.” An aggressive, shirtless, tattooed young Jewish skinhead is shown saying, “We came out to fight the Arabs. To show them they can’t just shoot rockets at us… If need be, we’ll kill them. If need be, we’ll murder them.” The sequence cuts to Jewish Israelis lynching an Arab.
Furthermore, as pro-Democracy, anti-Netanyahu protests continue, the Occupation remains off the agenda. An older man, maybe from her parents’ generation, labels Shuster Eliassi an “enemy” of Israel for calling to end the occupation at a protest against the Israeli government.
Vivian Silver, one of the people killed in the Gaza envelope on Oct. 7, was a lifetime peace activist. She was a friend of my friends and a friend of Shuster Eliassi. At her funeral we see her son talking to Shuster Eliassi. “She didn’t work for peace so that when they come, they’ll spare her,” he says of his mother “She worked so there’d be no reason for them to come.” It’s a position that is no longer tenable.
Ultimately, Coexistence, My Ass! isn’t about solutions, because it’s not naïve enough to pretend that there are any. It isn’t about both sides, although heaven knows there is plenty of blame to go around. It’s about staring with Shuster Eliassi down the line of peace and seeing massive objects fall across it. It’s not cathartic. It’s honest. And sometimes, honesty is the most radical thing a film can offer.
The post In ‘Coexistence, My Ass!’ the anxiety of an Israeli influencer appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Central African Republic Votes, Russia Ally Touadera Seeks Third Term
People wait to cast their vote at a polling station during the presidential election in Bangui, Central African Republic, December 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/ Leger Serge Kokpakpa
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera is seeking a third term on Sunday as the chronically unstable country holds national elections, touting security gains made with the help of Russian mercenaries and Rwandan soldiers.
The 68-year-old mathematician oversaw a constitutional referendum in 2023 that scrapped the presidential term limit, drawing an outcry from his critics who accused him of seeking to rule for life.
A Touadera victory – the expected outcome – would likely further the interests of Russia, which has traded security assistance for access to resources including gold and diamonds. Touadera is also offering access to the country’s lithium and uranium reserves to anyone interested.
Polling stations opened on time at 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) in the capital, Bangui, a Reuters witness said. They were due to close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), with provisional results expected by January 5. Nearly 2.4 million people were registered to vote.
Casting her ballot in Bangui, shopkeeper Beatrice Mokonzapa said women had “suffered greatly” during Central African Republic’s years of conflict but that the situation had improved.
“We have security today. I hope it continues. And for that, President Touadera is best placed to guarantee our security,” she said.
SIX OPPONENTS CHALLENGE TOUADERA
The opposition field of six candidates is led by two former prime ministers, Anicet-Georges Dologuele and Henri-Marie Dondra, both of whom survived attempts by Touadera’s supporters to have them disqualified for allegedly holding foreign citizenship.
Though both men remain on the ballot, Touadera is still seen as the favorite given his control over state institutions and superior financial resources, analysts say.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Dondra said the playing field was “unbalanced” and that he had been unable to travel as widely as Touadera to campaign. He nevertheless predicted he would have a strong showing.
The challenges to the candidacies of Dologuele and Dondra “aligned with an apparent pattern of administrative manoeuvring that has disproportionately impeded opposition politicians while favouring the ruling United Hearts Party,” Human Rights Watch said last month.
Voting in the capital early on Sunday, teacher Albert Komifea said he wanted a change, without specifying who he had backed.
“They did everything they could to prevent the opposition from campaigning effectively, in order to reduce their chances,” he said. “But the ballot box will confirm that change is now.”
RUSSIA AND RWANDA REINFORCE TOUADERA
In 2018, CAR became the first country in West and Central Africa to bring in Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, a step since also taken by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Two years later, Rwanda deployed troops to shore up Touadera’s government as rebel groups threatened the capital and tried to disrupt the 2020 elections, ultimately preventing voting at 800 polling stations across the country, or 14% of the total.
The country is more secure now after Touadera signed several peace deals with rebel groups this year.
But those gains remain fragile: Rebels have not fully disarmed, reintegration is incomplete, and incursions by combatants from neighboring Sudan fuel insecurity in the east.
Beyond the presidential contest, the elections on Sunday cover legislative, regional and municipal positions.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, a presidential runoff will take place on February 15, while legislative runoffs will take place on April 5.
Pangea-Risk, a consultancy, wrote in a note to clients that the risk of unrest after the election was high as opponents were likely to challenge Touadera’s expected victory.
A smooth voting process could reinforce Touadera’s claim that stability is returning, which was buttressed last year with the U.N. Security Council’s lifting of an arms embargo and the lifting of a separate embargo on diamond exports.
In November, the U.N. Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission. The US opposed the decision, calling for a shorter extension and a handover of security to Bangui.
Uncategorized
Lawsuit Alleges ChatGPT Played Role in Teen’s Suicide
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman meets with French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 23 May 2023. YOAN VALAT /Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
i24 News – The life of Adam Rein, a 16-year-old from California, took a tragic turn shortly after he began using ChatGPT to help with his schoolwork last fall.
By March, Adam was spending an average of five hours a day interacting with the chatbot. During that period, ChatGPT referenced terms such as “suicide” and “hanging” at a rate reportedly 20 times higher than Adam himself used in daily conversations.
An analysis of Adam’s chat history, provided to The Washington Post by attorneys representing the Rein family, suggests that the exchanges grew increasingly intense as the teenager shared suicidal thoughts.
The data is now central to a lawsuit filed by his parents, who allege that OpenAI bears responsibility for their son’s death. They claim the company made ChatGPT accessible to minors despite being aware of risks related to psychological dependency and the potential worsening of suicidal ideation.
Adam’s parents are the first of at least five families who have filed wrongful death lawsuits against OpenAI in recent months. All allege that ChatGPT encouraged, either directly or indirectly, the suicides of their loved ones. A sixth lawsuit, filed this month, claims that a man was influenced by the chatbot to kill his mother before taking his own life.
OpenAI has denied the allegations. In court filings responding to the Rein family’s lawsuit, the company argued that Adam bypassed ChatGPT’s safety safeguards in violation of its terms of use and stated that he was already at risk prior to using the chatbot. OpenAI cited earlier messages in which Adam described experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts years before engaging with the platform.
The company declined to comment on whether its automated safety alerts prompted additional internal action or human review at the time of Adam’s death. Court documents indicate that when Adam’s messages referenced self-harm, ChatGPT repeatedly urged him, more than 100 times, to reach out to family members, trusted individuals, or emergency services.
The case has intensified scrutiny of OpenAI and the broader risks posed by artificial intelligence tools to vulnerable users.
With ChatGPT serving an estimated 800 million active users each week, critics, including lawmakers, regulators, and grieving families, are calling for stronger safeguards, particularly for minors. What some have described as a growing “ChatGPT safety crisis” is fueling debate over the responsibilities of AI companies as their technologies become deeply embedded in everyday life.
Uncategorized
Israel’s Tech Sector Says More Staff Seek Relocation Abroad-Report
A general view of apartment blocks and office buildings under construction, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, August 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Florion Goga
Requests to relocate abroad by Israelis working at multinational companies operating in Israel rose in the past year in reaction to Israel’s two-year war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, a report showed on Sunday.
The Israel Advanced Technology Industries Association (IATI) found that 53 percent of companies reported an increase in relocation requests from Israeli employees, noting this was “a trend that may, over time, harm the local innovation engine and Israel’s technological leadership.”
The tech sector accounts for about 20 percent of Israel’s GDP, 15 percent of its jobs and more than half of its exports. The hundreds of multinationals in Israel include Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta and Apple.
DISRUPTIONS IN SUPPLY CHAINS
In its annual report, IATI also said some multinational companies are examining the transfer of investments and activities to other countries.
“In some cases, companies that faced disruptions in supply chains found alternatives outside Israel during the war, and when these proved efficient, there is a risk that activity will not fully return,” said the report, issued at a meeting led by IATI CEO and President Karin Mayer Rubinstein.
At the same time, it added, there has been an increase in demand for relocation among senior executives and families, with more employees applying for positions outside Israel.
Still, the report noted that multinationals view the Israeli tech ecosystem through a long-term lens and many firms have thrived during the war.
TECH SECTOR ‘PROVES ITS RESILIENCE’
Some 57% of companies maintained stable business activities throughout the fighting, and 21% expanded their operations in Israel, “a figure that indicates continued confidence in local activity and the Israeli ecosystem even under conditions of uncertainty,” IATI said.
Another 22% of companies reported damage to business activity during the war, which began on October 7, 2023, triggered by Hamas’ raid on Israel, and ended two months ago following a U.S.-led ceasefire deal.
“Even during the difficult war, the Israeli high-tech industry, including the global companies operating in Israel, once again proved its resilience and its ability to lead in innovation and creativity,” said Rubinstein. “We work tirelessly to ensure that Israel continues to be an attractive hub for the activity of multinational companies.”
IATI noted that “without active steps by the state to create regulatory and geopolitical stability, there is concern about gradual erosion in the stability of the local ecosystem.”