In 2021, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Jewish state’s envoy to the United Nations shared clips from “South Park” that cast Israel as a leader in vaccination during the pandemic. In a recent episode of the show, however, the Jewish state is cast in a very different light.
Episode five, titled “Conflict of Interest,” of the show’s 27th season, which Paramount+ released on Sept. 23, has a Jewish character—who grows tired of the “pure antisemitism” of being “grilled about my views on Palestine and my thoughts on Hamas”—travel to Israel and crash a meeting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.
The character accuses Netanyahu of “killing thousands and flattening neighborhoods, then wrapping yourself in Judaism like it’s some shield from criticism,” as well as “making life for Jews miserable and life for American Jews impossible.”
The U.S. arm of the Betar movement stated that “the scene ends with Chassidic music playing mockingly in the background, turning Jewish identity into a punchline.”
“Let’s be very clear. This isn’t satire. This is defamation. This isn’t comedy. This is cowardice. This isn’t criticism of policy. This is delegitimization of the Jewish state,” it said. “To imply that antisemitism is caused by Israel is a grotesque inversion of history and morality. Jews are not responsible for the hate directed at them. We never have been. Blaming Israel for global antisemitism is the classic antisemitic blood libel in woke disguise.”
Arsen Ostrovsky, a human-rights lawyer and CEO of the International Legal Forum, stated that the episode is “crude and tasteless,” but it is counterproductive to call it Jew-hatred. “In case you haven’t noticed, ‘South Park’ makes fun, literally, of everyone,” he stated. “It is satire.”
“Save your outrage for the very real threats we face, not cartoons,” he said.
Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the show has won five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.
