Jerry Seinfeld and pro-Palestinian protester in heated exchange at Australian show

Jerry Seinfeld savaged a pro-Palestinian heckler in front of a crowd of thousands of people at his stand-up comedy show in Sydney on Sunday night after the man accused the American comedian of being a Zionist who supported a “terrorist state”.

Two videos of the confrontation have emerged, representing contrasting views of the exchange.

Jerry Seinfeld devoted more than two minutes of his routine to heckling the heckler.Credit: AP

One, shared via the Instagram feed of a pro-Palestinian activist campaign, captures the words of the protester, directed at the vocal support Seinfeld has shown for Israel throughout the current crisis.

Another, posted online by the Australian Jewish Association and widely reported by mainstream media, captures Seinfeld’s response and shows the protester being escorted out of the QUDOS Bank Arena, which has a capacity in theatre mode of about 21,000 people.

“We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen,” Seinfeld responded to the heckler. “He’s solved the Middle East! He’s solved it: It’s the Jewish comedians, that’s who we have to [get], they’re the ones doing everything.”

Seinfeld’s put-down was in line with his oft-repeated position that he is merely a comedian, and not in any real sense political.

In the first video, the man, identified in the comments as Aboud, shouts: “It is Israel that has been killing Palestinians for eight decades.

“You are a Zionist, you support Zionism. You support the killing of Palestinians. Forty-thousand people dead, 15,000 children.”

Hamas killed about 1200 people and took 250 others hostage during its October 7 attack, Israeli authorities claim. Health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza last year in retaliation; Israel claims 309 of its soldiers have died in the fighting.

The vision shows security moving in to escort the man out as he continues to shout at Seinfeld, who responds: “They’re going to start punching you in about three seconds, so I would try and get all of your genius out so that we can all learn from you.”

To loud cheers, he tells the protester: “It’s a comedy show, you moron, get out of here.

“Imagine if this guy actually did solve the current …,” Seinfeld begins before the protester again shouts and the audience yells back at him.

“You’re really influencing everyone here,” Seinfeld says. “We’re all on your side now because you’ve made your point so well, and in the right venue, you’ve come to the right place for a political conversation. Tomorrow, we will read in the paper, ‘Middle East 100 per cent solved, thanks to a man at the QUDOS Arena stopping Jew comedian’.”

As the man is led away, Seinfeld segues into a classic bit of freewheeling thought association familiar to fans of his comedy routines and his eponymous sitcom.

“I know there are problems here with Indigenous Aboriginal people and the white … so maybe to solve that I will screw up [Australian stand-up comedian] Jim Jefferies at a show in New York. If this works, that will work. You have to go 20,000 miles from a problem and screw up a comedian. That is how you solve world issues.”

Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, visited Israel in December, and toured sites of the Hamas attacks.

On her Instagram, Jessica posted on Christmas Eve that this was her fifth visit, “and I have never seen a more unified country. Among people of all walks of life, from wounded soldiers to families of peace activists whose mothers, fathers or siblings were murdered or are still held captive in Gaza, the horror of October 7th has erased divisions within Israel. Everyone has come together for a greater cause – to defeat Hamas, to build a better and safer Israel, and a better, safer world”.

On October 10, Seinfeld had himself posted an image of a young woman wrapped in an Israeli flag, with the legend “I stand with Israel”.

“We believe in justice, freedom and equality,” he wrote. “We survive and flourish no matter what. I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people.”

In an interview with podcaster Bari Weiss last month, he described the visit to Israel as “the most powerful experience of my life”.

Though his statements on the conflict have rarely been overtly political (except insofar as he has taken to dismissing so-called “woke” culture), they have been deemed partisan enough for anti-war protesters in the United States to take issue.

Last month, a number of students at Duke University walked out on their own graduation ceremony as honorary guest Seinfeld began a commencement speech.

The protester in Sydney on Sunday night levelled specific accusations at the comedian.

“You went to Israel to a training camp where you simulated killing Palestinians. You and your wife.”

That was a reference to a visit the Seinfelds paid to Caliber 3, a West Bank “anti-terrorism” training camp, in 2018. The visit was widely reported at the time, and sparked a backlash against the comedian when photos of him were posted on the Caliber 3 Facebook page showing Seinfeld holding a machine gun.

“Finally, we are allowed to tell you! Jerry Seinfeld and his family were in Caliber 3,” the facility posted on its Facebook page. “During their visit to Israel last week, they came to us for a special and exciting activity with displays of combat, Krav Maga, assault dogs and lots of Zionism. It was great.”

On Sunday night, as the protester was being told “get out of here” by one attendee and being called “an idiot” by another, he said: “If you all had a conscience, you would walk out.”

As he was led away by security staff, the man added: “It’s got nothing to do with religion.” The video ends with the man saying, “Israel is a terrorist state.”

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