Jerry Seinfeld tells activists they’re in the wrong place at his Australian shows. Here’s why they persist

Announcing his forthcoming stadium tour last November, Jerry Seinfeld said: “I have loved Australia since my first tour there in 1998, and I cannot wait to come back to visit some of the greatest comedy fans in the world.”

Three shows into that tour, he might now be having second thoughts.

Jerry Seinfeld has again been heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters on his Australian tour. Credit: The New York Times

For the second time this week, the 70-year-old US comedian became embroiled on Tuesday night in a heated exchange with pro-Palestinian protesters at a stand-up comedy show in Australia.

The exchanges at Sydney’s 9000-seat Aware Super Theatre were, like Sunday night’s events, captured in videos posted online by the Australian Jewish Association, which claimed “Australia is earning a shocking reputation for antisemitism” around the world, and by pro-Palestinian activists.

Seinfeld has become the target of protesters over what has been interpreted as his support for Israel’s military response to the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, in which 1200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage.

Since then, Israel’s campaign of retaliation has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 37,500 Palestinians, including a claimed 15,000 children. Israel’s military says 309 of its troops have died in the fighting.

“You’re a hack and a fraud,” a protester yells in the Tuesday night video posted by activists. “Fifteen thousand children dead … you’re complicit in genocide. You went to Israel to [live your] fantasies of killing Palestinians.”

That was a reference to a 2018 visit by Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, to Caliber 3, an “anti-terrorist” training camp in the occupied West Bank, where participants simulate attacks on Palestinians and the comedian was photographed holding a machine gun.

“Ah, you’re doing great. You’re getting them on your side, can you hear it?” Seinfeld mocks in return, in the video posted by the AJA. “You think that ruining the night … it doesn’t affect me. All these people, you’re ruining their night. That’s all you did.”

As the protesters were led away by police – no arrests were made or charges laid – Seinfeld tried to reclaim the moment for comedy by saying their heckling had been part of the show. “This was all set up by me. This is a friend of mine, let me introduce him, his name is Haime Goldstein. This was all set up.”

Responding to an audience member who said she loved him, he said: “Thank you, sweetheart, I love you too. I love them too – they just need a little direction of where to use their tremendous brain power.”

In a statement issued to this masthead, activists associated with the two actions explained why they had targeted the comedian.

They said they hoped to “raise awareness for both Seinfeld’s audience and the wider community of the current and ongoing illegal occupation and genocide perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians” and to “generate conversation around the issue and encourage others to educate themselves and engage more deeply” with it.

Comments posted in response to videos on the activist Instagram page littlepalestineatalbos suggested many people had been unaware of Seinfeld’s position on the conflict prior to the actions, they said.

Accepting that their protests might make patrons uncomfortable, the activists said “but such discomfort surely pales in comparison to our community’s collective trauma at the devastating loss of life in Gaza and the West Bank for the last eight months (and indeed since 1948)”.

The activists, who claim not to have bought tickets to Seinfeld’s shows but to have received them from people who had decided against attending after becoming aware of the comedian’s views, insist they are not antisemitic.

“Criticising Israel and/or Zionism should never be equated with antisemitism. Standing against genocide should not be controversial, and anyone who comes to our rallies and speaks with our community will see that many of the people standing in solidarity with the Palestinians are multi-faith, including Jewish people and groups.”

However, some of the comments on the video on the Instagram page draw comparisons between Seinfeld, Zionism and Israel with Nazism, while the account administrators posted “the Zionist entity will fall”, a reference to the state of Israel.

Both those viewpoints could potentially be considered expressions of antisemitism under the terms of a new hate-speech bill being drafted by the federal government.

That legislation is expected to adopt the definition of antisemitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which includes “the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity”, a definition whose broadness has been criticised by many human rights activists, including prominent lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and some progressive Jewish organisations.

Seinfeld is due to perform in Brisbane on Wednesday night, Adelaide on Thursday, and at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday (two shows) and Sunday.

Management at Rod Laver Arena did not respond to questions about security measures that might be taken in anticipation of further protests, while the activists said they were unaware if anything had been planned.

“But if it happened,” they added, “we would see it as a legitimate form of protest.”

Seinfeld declined to comment for this story.

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