As the author of three novels, and as a Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel who writes in Hebrew, Sayed Kashua was no stranger to criticism.
But he was unprepared for the sometimes hostile response to the 2007 premiere of his situation comedy “Avodah Aravit” (“Arab Labor”).
The show follows the lives of Amjad, an Israeli citizen and Palestinian journalist at a large Hebrew newspaper in Jerusalem, his wife Bushra and their daughter Maya.
Amjad’s quest to be seen by others as he sees himself — as just another citizen — provides the situations and plots.
“During the first season we had a very rough time dealing with critics, Arabic ones, for many reasons,” he said during the talkback following a screening of two episodes of the show on April 9 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “After the first episode they … called me a traitor.”
Some of the outrage, he said, was about the format. More than one critic expressed a variation on the theme that an Arab finally gets a platform on Israeli TV, and squanders it on a comedy.
“Many people thought it was possible to make lectures against occupation on mainstream Israeli TV,” he said. “The goal was to show that we can bring an Arab family to a mainstream Israeli living room and to use humor to humanize the characters and follow this family, then start dealing with very sensitive issues like the episode we saw today.”
Kashua was referring to the second of the episodes shown at the event, “The Shower” and “Memorial Day,” both from season two. By then, he said, some of the critics had apologized.
He had also, because of the vitriol, moved his family from Beit Safafa, an Arab town on the Green Line, to West Jerusalem.
The show often takes large political issues and shrinks them to a size where it’s easy to see their effect on average people’s lives. The show won five Israeli Academy of Film and Television Awards in 2013 for its third season.
“It’s the only sitcom I know of that makes me cry every time, which I think is an amazing achievement,” said Dr. Tasha Oren, associate professor of English at UWM, who moderated the talkback.
About 75 people attended the talk. Questions ranged from queries about issues raised in the episodes to questions about school and neighborhood segregation, how well Israeli Jews understand the ways Arab Israeli citizens are marginalized and whether there have been any “learning moments” between Jews and Arabs as a result of the show.
“Taxi drivers and people I meet have told me that, ‘The Nakba [the Catastrophe, the Arab term for Israel’s War of Independence] was a curse for me, but now my kids and I can talk about it at home,’” Kashua said. “And a lot of Mizrachi people [Jews from Arab countries] love the show and say it’s close to the Mizrachi experience in Israel.”
He was also asked whether living as an Arab Israeli in West Jerusalem caused any tension.
“We are the only Arab family in our nice neighborhood,” he said, “and I’m not sure how accepted I’d be there if I weren’t a very well-known writer in Israel. It’s difficult for Arabs to move.”
Nevertheless, “I love my neighbors,” he said. “I love how my daughter is accepted by her teachers and her friends, and my nine-year-old in bilingual school with his friends. I see Arab doctors and nurses together treating both Arabs and Jews in the hospitals.”
“When it comes to policies, I’m sad to say that the people are controlled by a small group of settlers,” he continued. “I think the government of Israel is awful, but I love the people.”
Other questions touched on the challenges Arab Israelis face in getting the experience necessary to work — on and off-camera — in television, and if there are differences between Jewish and Arab humor.
“In cinema, Arab [Israelis] are doing great. So why not on TV? I’m trying to bring as many Arabs as I can to be producers, and would like to see most of the people on the set as Arabs, just to train them,” Kashua said.
As for humor, he said, “When we [talk about] Jewish humor, we mean minority humor. And that humor I love very much.”
The event was co-sponsored by UWM’s Sam & Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies, and the Israel Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council, both agencies of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Amy Waldman is a Milwaukee-based freelance writer and coordinator of the ACCESS Program for Displaced Homemakers at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Loading ...