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On a recent Wednesday, Noam Shuster-Eliassi strolled around the tiny village in Israel where she grew up, Neve Shalom or "Oasis of Peace," wishing goodbye to her neighbors. The Israeli comedian was heading to Harvard University in just a few days for a fellowship at the Divinity School. There, she will be writing an hourlong comedy show in Hebrew, English and Arabic. She is calling it, “Coexistence My Ass.”
The name pokes fun at Shuster-Eliassi’s upbringing in the village, the only place in Israel designed for Israelis and Palestinians to intentionally live together. It also makes light of her career as a professional peace activist. After graduating from Brandeis University outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Shuster-Eliassi returned to Israel to work for the peacebuilding group, Interpeace.
“You know, I care about the political causes, but I’m 31 and single, so, I go to the demonstrations mainly to look for a date. And when I go to the demonstrations, the problem is that the only people who actually look like they have taken a shower is the police officers.”
Noam Shuster-Eliassi
But with the political situation between Israelis and Palestinians at an impasse, Shuster-Eliassi felt she wasn’t reaching people. So, she began telling jokes - about the unusual village where she grew up, her identity as the daughter of an Iranian-born Jew and her dating life as a leftist in Israel. Like this one she told an audience in London last year: “You know, I care about the political causes, but I’m 31 and single, so, I go to the demonstrations mainly to look for a date,” she said, to raucous laughter. “And when I go to...