The talent in Hollywood has an abundance of resources to reverse the tsunami of misinformation and to shed light on the plight of the world’s largest Jewish community that’s been wedged in a hostile neighborhood. Far too many, have done too little.
This makes the effort of one tireless, (though probably exhausted) outspoken actor, that much more incredible. Michael Rapaport’s Hollywood credentials far exceed his starring roles in Atypical and Public Morals, and yet they’re minor compared to his role in platforming truth and calling out hypocrisy and complacency.
He has teamed up with Israeli comedy show, Eretz Nehederet, for English language skits that elicit the uncomfortable laughter accompanying humor inspired by material that should not exist in a sane and moral world.
Two months after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel and slaughtered more than 1100 people, and abducted more than 200 people of all ages, leaving much of the kibbutzim in ruins, many students on Western campuses called for more violence against the Jewish state. In the midst of this surreal climate, Rapaport channeled Representative Elise Stefanik as she questioned three presidents of leading universities whose campuses have been overflowing with antisemitic rhetoric. Rapaport’s character in the Eretz Nehederet skit, “The Hogwarts Code of Conduct,” asked three well known teachers from the series if calling for the genocide of Mudbloods violated their code of conduct, just to get the disgraceful real world equivalent answers given by the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn.
In between that appearance, and the latest from earlier this week, Rapaport has continued his advocacy for the victims of the October 7th massacre, the largest Islamic terror attack on a democracy since September 11, 2001. He has been posting information on social media, giving informational tours into the most affected regions, like Kibbutz Be’eri, and calling for the return of the hostages. He has met loved ones of those not yet rescued, such as the parents of a 22-year-old American, Omer Neutra.
Though other celebrities have stepped up a bit, not many have matched Rapaport’s human rights activism surrounding the attacks on Israel and advocating for the hostages. He hasn’t let the solitude stop him. Working with Eretz Nehederet, again, he said the quiet parts aloud à la Oscar host style. Rapaport, dashingly dressed up in a tuxedo with a yellow ribbon pin, started off acknowledging the 134 Israeli hostages kept in the terror tunnels. Many of those tunnels were built by fatal child labor. He mentioned how the hostages have a lot in common with the audience, “. . . neither of you have eaten in almost four months.” And he called out the silence of the celebrities in the audience, a scene brilliantly put together from previous clips, so that their reactions looked like they were in response to his statements. It’s a much needed three minutes of dark humor that shines a bit of light on a corner of the globe that has the potential to do a lot more, and maybe now, they will.
