Tribeca Festival denounces pro-Israel celebrities’ red-carpet jokes about Israeli dog rape allegations

JTA – The Tribeca Festival has denounced jokes alluding to allegations of rape against Israeli prison guards made on the red carpet by the comedian and actor Elon Gold and pro-Israel influencer Lizzy Savetsky. 

The two Jewish figures made the jokes at the world premiere of Gold’s new film, The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan) on Thursday, and Savetsky included them in a highlights reel that she posted on Instagram on Friday. 

In the reel, Gold notes that it’s significant that the Tribeca Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, included a movie that was made in Israel. The implication was that at a time of surging anti-Israel sentiment, he would not have expected films with an Israeli connection to be admitted. 

Then he joked about his time in Israel, “I was only raped by two Israeli dogs.” 

Savetsky responded, “I thought they only raped Palestinians.” 

“No,” Gold answered, laughing. “I got also a dog.” 

The pair were alluding to allegations of sexual abuse by Israeli prison guards against Palestinian prisoners that The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote about in an opinion column last month. One of the most sensational claims, which Israel rejected along with all the others, was that Israeli prison guards use dogs to rape prisoners. 

After the comments drew criticism online, the Tribeca Festival said in a statement on Saturday that it “unequivocally condemns the offensive and unacceptable remarks” made by Savetsky and Gold. 

“Sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimised,” the festival said. “The comments do not reflect the Tribeca Festival’s values, and we regret the hurt and offence they have caused. We have not been able to reach the filmmakers.” 

Pro-Israel activists have condemned the column, Kristof, and the newspaper for airing the allegations against Israel, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to sue the newspaper over the claims. 

In an Instagram video response to a The New York Times reporter asking for comment over email, Savetsky compared the allegations made in Kristof’s column to an antisemitic blood libel. 

In a comment to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), Savetsky denied that the jokes she had made on the red carpet were “about rape” as the festival alleged. 

“It was a joke mocking The New York Times story with a horrific blood libel,” she said in a message to JTA. “Any other interpretation is ridiculous and a deflection from the actual issue here, which is irresponsible journalism meant to villainise Zionists. Comedy and the arts have always been used to address real issues ‒ the issue here should not be dog rape, which is biologically impossible, it should be the blood libel spread by The New York Times.” 

She added, “I stand by it with no regrets. The outrage only exposes how the press and those poisoned by anti-Israel propaganda will twist anything to blame the Jews … even when it means justifying a story with zero evidence about something biologically impossible.” 

Gold, who also served as executive producer on the film, did not respond to JTA’s request for comment. 

• “The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan)” is an Israeli comedy about a Hasidic ex-comedian who re-enters the comedy world after a battle with addiction to earn enough money to marry off his daughter.