Ahmed and Salim – Israeli satire stretches the limits of taste

April 26, 2009 - 1:31 PM by David

YouTube Preview ImageWhat happens when you cross irreverent South Park-type animated humor with the Middle East conflict? The no-holds-barred provocation of Ahmed and Salim.

The animated web series developed by two young Israelis, 21-year-old Tom Trager, a journalist and graphic designer, and 20-year-old Or Paz, a video editor, has become a YouTube sensation, with one of its six four-minute episodes attracting over half a million viewers.

The self-defined “sitcom about terrorists” is sure to offend just about everybody, as it uses dark humor to describe the life of the two sons, Ahmed and Salim, of an Arab arch-terrorist, who’s constantly trying to send his sons off on terrorist missions that inevitably go awry.

According to the McLatchey newspaper chain, which wrote about the series, Ahmed and Salim “appear to be typical teenage brothers. They spend hours in front of their computer playing Wii and posting crude updates on Facebook. They jam with Guitar Hero and watch bad American sitcoms. They bicker and call each other names.

The animated stars of an incendiary new Internet cartoon series aren’t typical, however. They’re young Arabs who spend their afternoons trying to bomb Israeli buses, gun down Jewish girls and incinerate crowded cafes, and in the three months since their debut, their caricature of Islamic extremism has attracted a growing cult following in Israel.

Its creators and fans see a humorous series that resembles “South Park” – at least visually – and mocks Islamic terrorism. Its critics see a hate-filled cartoon that uses crude stereotypes to dehumanize Muslims, intensify Arab-Israeli divisions and inflame the conflict between Muslims and Jews.

“What they do is strengthen old stereotypes of the Arabs and Muslims as radical and stupid and terrorists,” said Yizhar Be’er, the executive director of Keshev, an Israeli media-monitoring group. “These episodes are so full of hatred that if an Arab did this about Jews, immediately the Anti-Defamation League would make big noise about it.”
ADL officials in Israel said they hadn’t heard of “Ahmed and Salim.” However, Phyllis Gerably, the director of the group’s Israel office, said the cartoon sounded “counterproductive.”

The initial episode which attracted the huge YouTube reponse focuses on the father bemoaning the fact that his sons haven’t gone off on a suicide mission and killed lots of Jews.
“Why can’t you two die already and make your father happy?” the father says before shooting one of his many veiled wives in a fit of rage.

Ahmed and Salim reluctantly head off with a box of dynamite that their father tells them to put on an Israeli bus. Before they carry out the mission, however, Salim throws a tantrum and demands an ice cream. The brothers then mistakenly put the bomb on a Palestinian bus, killing dozens and disgracing their father in front of his terrorist friends

According to Ynet, Paz and Trager hope to eventually be able to turn the series into a television production, but admit that so far no one has made them an offer to this effect.

They are aware of the controversy that the series has prompted, and that even led to some death threats, but say they receive many supportive, positive responses as well.

It seems that the Arab world is taking a special interest in the comic show. Al-Jazeera has already run an item about it and Paz and Trager say that many articles, for and against the series, have been published in Arab and Muslim newspapers.

“We do want to offend, but we have no intention of offending Muslims or Arabs,” Trager told the McLatchey chain. It’s a silly carton that doesn’t represent any reality, that’s about a bunch of idiotic stereotypes with no basis in reality.”

Tags: , • Category: General, Movies, Politics, Pop Culture, coexistence 

Comments

3 Comments on Ahmed and Salim – Israeli satire stretches the limits of taste

  1. or on Sun, Apr 26th 2009 11:54 PM

    2. you made the comparrison to southpark – notice that in southpark the inpolitically correctnes is ussually used to mock reactionist factors in the u.s. society. this so called satire uses it only for dehumanization.

  2. Erklärbär on Sat, Jun 6th 2009 10:51 PM

    3. …well, it IS fun to watch! How cares if some people are offended because you always have the. Just remeber the mohammed carricatures! Embassies were torched for that, only because some people (muslims mostly, sad to say) have no sense of humor. As Salim would say: “Wake up and get a life you wankers!”…

    http://www.ahmedandsalim.com

  3. Popular Culture in Israel and Palestine » Ahmed and Salim on Fri, Oct 30th 2009 9:37 PM

    4. [...] http://israelity.com/2009/04/26/ahmed-and-salim-israeli-satire-stretches-the-limits-of-taste/ [...]

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