As it seems possible that a US attack on Iran could lead to another Iranian strike on Israel, there’s very little any of us can do except stock up on supplies and try to laugh about it all. Eretz Nehederet, the popular comedy sketch show which airs on Keshet’s Channel 12, helped with the latter on Wednesday night, making fun of everything about the current Iran-US standoff.
US President Donald Trump was at the center of the show, and in fact, the show’s broadcast was delayed because Trump himself was scheduled to make a statement about Iran. After waiting for a while, Eretz Nehederet went on and showed its Trump impersonator (Omer Etzion) sitting in his office in the White House, trying to decide what to do, and holding up pictures of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in one hand, and a military aircraft in the other.
“Maybe we’ll bomb them, maybe we’ll make a deal, maybe I’ll just dance,” he said, and then rambled on about how his dancing bothers people. Pressed by host Eyal Kitzis to reveal his plan, he said, “OK, it’s time for some decision-making. Eeany, meany, miney, mo, catch an Ayatollah, I don’t know...”
Eretz Nehaderetz talks Trump
Kitzis kept coming back to him throughout the program, during which he conferred with top military and Iranian experts, including Nir Dvori (Lior Ashkenazi), Ehud Ya’ari, (Yuval Semo), and Beni Sabti (Eli Finish), none of whom could offer any definitive answers. Dvori was busy checking how many pizzas were being ordered at the Pentagon, since an increase in takeout orders at the defense department was said to be an indicator that the military was working overtime to plan the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities last June. Sabti brought a homing pigeon he planned to send to Iran to get information, while Ya’ari glowered and said nothing would bring any change to Iran.
Israeli pop diva Rita (Alma Zak), who was born in Iran, and her daughters, singers Meshi Kleinstein and Noam Kleinstein, came in to entertain the experts.
Kitzis turned back to Trump, who said he would flip a bitcoin to decide, only to reveal that the coin had two heads. “I made a decision. I’m ordering pizza. It’s going to be a tremendous pizza, the best pizza ever… I need to sleep on it first,” he told Kitzis. After a catnap, he awoke and seemed refreshed and resolute, but it was only because he had a fun dream about actress Sydney Sweeney.
The scene shifted to the headquarters of Iran’s Supreme Leader, who was berating a military commander for not carrying out his orders, which he kept changing.
Iran was the theme of the night, beginning with the show’s opening, which focused on a couple at home talking about a possible attack. While the wife was freaking out over the prospect, the husband was ecstatic when the sirens went off, because he had bet on Polymarket that Iran would bomb Israel again.
Later, Kitzis announced that the show was going to go to a live feed of the protesters in Iran, but then was surprised to see MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, the head of the United Torah Judaism Party, who has been urging his supporters to demonstrate against the law to draft ultra-Orthodox men into the military. “Someone has to come save us,” he said. A yeshiva student came up to him, upset that he had received a draft notice. Goldknopf told him not to worry about it and set it on fire, then lit a cigar from it, mimicking the viral image of the young Iranian woman who burned a picture of Khamenei and used it to light her cigarette.
There was a little time to make fun of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s court cases and scandals, but every few minutes Trump returned, but was no closer to making a decision.
Eventually, Kitzis brought in two celebrity psychics, but they were no more help than Trump himself.
At the end, the host pleaded with the US president for an answer, but Trump said he might bomb Iran, or Venezuela, or even Greenland. Looking at the photo of Khamenei, Trump tried to decide again, muttering, “Bomb you, bomb you not.”
Kitzis ended the show by saying, “We’ll see you next week. Or not, it depends on Trump. But don’t forget, we have a wonderful country.”