On NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” “Weekend Update” co-host Michael Che joked about genocide while talking about turnout in Israel’s elections. He referred to voters across the country’s political spectrum.
“A record number of people voted in Israel’s election this week,” Che said, adding that it was good to see whether voters were on the right, the left, “or the genocide.”
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said comedy allows considerable room for jokes, but objected to the idea behind this one. The spokesperson said it draws on what they described as a widespread but baseless belief that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
The organization also argued that accusations of genocide cast Jews as perpetrators of a crime committed against them during the Holocaust. It said such claims are driven partly by an effort to ease global guilt over the Holocaust by portraying Jews as responsible for the same grave crime, and added that the accusations have contributed to abuse and violence against Jews worldwide, including terrorism and murder.
Curtis Houck, managing editor of NewsBusters, also criticized the joke. He said the segment treated the description of Israel as a genocidal state as a punchline, and argued that viewers might not understand the meaning of the word. Houck added that, in his view, the term is more applicable to the way many Arabs regard Israel’s right to exist.
Houck said the segment could have focused instead on Arab participation in the election as a counterpoint to genocide allegations. He noted that Arab voters took part in what he called a free and fair election, and that Arab-led parties were projected to win 19 seats in the Knesset. But, he argued, that framing would have challenged views held by the American far left. He added that genocide should not be a subject for jokes.
Preliminary results from Israel’s recent election projected that the country’s two Arab-led parties would win a combined 19 seats.
Che made the remark with his co-host, Colin Jost, during a segment that also took aim at President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Republican messaging ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Che faced criticism in February 2021 after suggesting that Israel’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign favored Jewish citizens. “Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population. I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half,” he said.
The Anti-Defamation League said that earlier joke missed the mark and crossed a line. The American Jewish Committee also called on NBC to retract the segment and apologize, saying Che had misrepresented vaccine eligibility. The organization said vaccines were available to Israeli citizens regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Fox News Digital said it contacted the Israeli government and the White House for comment but had not received a response at the time.
