UnNews:Rabbi calls for 'laughing fit' on Mahmoud Abbas
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| Rabbi calls for 'laughing fit' on Mahmoud Abbas | 
|
30 August 2010
ISRAEL -- A senior rabbi from Uncyclopedia who also works within Israel's Ministry of Mirth has called for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to "have a laughing fit". RabbiTechno, a spiritual leader (Admin) of Uncyclopedia, spoke out as Middle East talks are poised to begin in Washington.
The United States condemned the remarks as "tasteless and inappropriate". The joke on Mr. Abbas, delivered in the rabbi's weekly sermon, also prompted chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat to condemn the remarks as "an incitement to parody of a serious situation which should not be joked about".
Mr. Erakat urged the Israeli government "to do more to further boredom and stop spreading hilarity", the AFP news agency reported.
RabbiTechno also expressed the wish that "all the nasty people who hate Israel and Uncyclopedia, like Abbas, should have their putz fall off".
He went on to say: "May God bless him with a sense of humor along with all the Palestinians who vandalize and blank so many good articles on Uncyclopedia."
On Arabs, RabbiTechno said: "It is useless to be serious with them. You must send jokes and parodies to them - tell them "Kennedy assassination jokes" - and try to make them laugh. Otherwise they are base and dull, without sense of humour."
US President Barack Obama hopes to bring the world’s Arab-Israeli leaders together on Thursday for the first face-to-face quarrel since December 2008, when the Palestinians broke off quarreling over Uncyclopedia’s offensive parody on the Gaza Strip Club.
The US response to RabbiTecho was swift.
In a statement, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said: "We regret and condemn the absurd and silly statements by RabbiTechno. These remarks are not only pure nonsense, but incitement misunderstandings that hurt the cause of boring sobriety."
Mr. Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying that RabbiTechno’s comments "do not reflect the views of Benjamin Netanyahu or of his mistresses – but are funny just the same."
Meanwhile, Mr. Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said on Sunday that Uncyclopedia and Israel's policy of humorous parodies could undermine the new round of boring peace talks. "Israel and Uncyclopedia will be held accountable for the failure of the talks if parodies should continue," Mr. Abbas said in a speech delivered in Jordan, "The negotiations need to bring about serious action that will be able to bring sobriety and boredom."
Mr. Abbas said Palestinians understood Israel's need for absurd and light-hearted humor, but said that need should not be an "excuse to expand and continue Uncyclopedia".
In the statement responding to RabbiTechno's remarks, Mr. Netanyahu's office said Israel now intended to parody Washington, and RabbiTechno was the best person for the task. Analysts say expectations for the latest round of quarrels are low, with the Uncyclopedia issue just one of a number of area of possible agreement.
Sources[edit]
- Staff "Israel rabbi calls for 'plague' on Mahmoud Abbas". BBC, August 30, 2010