‘SNL’: Michael Che ‘Weekend Update’ Joke on Israel Blasted as Anti-Semitic

Saturday Night Live is under fire this weekend for a joke about Israel’s coronavirus vaccination program. During the “Weekend Update” segment on Feb. 20, co-host and head writer Michael Che joked about the Israeli government’s claim that it has vaccinated 50-percent of its population. Some viewers called it anti-Semitic when he said: “and I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.”

Che’s joke ended there, apart from a bemused camera take by co-host Colin Jost. However, the one-sentence quip led to thousands of words’ worth of discourse on social media, where many believed Che was being anti-Semitic. For some, criticizing the Israeli government at all is practically anti-Semitic, though others took a more nuanced view of the issue.

For those that do not typically follow international politics, Che’s joke was confusing, so news stories about the issues plaguing Israel began circulating as well. Radio host and MSNBC columnist Dean Obeidallah directed many people to his article, which he believed summed up the facts of the situation with Israel’s vaccination program. He drew on sources at the United Nations, the World Health Organization and more to make sense of the data.

Human rights experts for the U.N. wrote that “the COVID-19 pandemic has been ravaging the West Bank and Gaza in recent months, and has fractured an already badly under-resourced Palestinian health care system.” The W.H.O. found that Palestinian territories are seeing a 1.1-percent mortality rate from the novel coronavirus — far higher than the 0.7-percent rate in Israel.

Obeidallah and other critics blamed this on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has been accused of treating Palestinian territories as “the world’s largest open-air prison,” and many described his policies as a form of Apartheid. At the same time, many questioned Che’s short take on the subject, and whether he was speaking from a place of humanitarian concern or bigotry. Here is a look at the responses to his loaded joke.

Netanyahu

Che’s defenders argued that accusations of anti-Semitism are often used to defend the actions of Netanyahu specifically, but that they do not apply here. The Israeli Prime Minister is highly controversial for policy-based reasons, but not for his religion.

Facts

Many critics of Netanyahu wondered how it could be called anti-Semitic to be concerned about the disparate treatment of another minority group. They pointed out that the lack of vaccines for Palestinians is a verifiable fact, not a conspiracy theory.

Anti-Che, Anti-Netanyahu

Many commenters said that they are no fans of Michael Che, but nor did they think this joke was over the line. They argued that the joke was not anti-Semitic, but more likely anti-Apartheid.

Older Jokes

While they were debating the intent behind his Israel joke, many critics brought up other recent jokes Che has made, arguing that they were over the line as well. Whether they disliked this weekend’s joke or not, most people acknowledged that Che’s humor is controversial at best.

Reporting

Many users backed up their arguments about Che’s jokes with links to in-depth articles about the situation for Palestinians. They argued that Che’s critics were simply not well-informed enough to contextualize his joke.

Platform

Along the same lines, many users praised Che for making his joke about Israel, figuring that he knew he would come under fire for it. They saw this as an important issue to shine a light on, which comedy is often the best tool for.

Double Standard

Finally, many users argued that the people who are criticizing Che are, in some cases, supporters of even more dubious figures — including far-right conspiracy theorists. They argued that Che’s joke was harmless, and that debating it would only give oxygen to the arguments of real anti-Semites.