HERZLIYA, Israel (AP) – For many Israelis, the country’s election campaign has only truly begun with the recent return of “Eretz Nehederet,” a biting TV satire that is Israel’s equivalent of “Saturday Night Live.” The show provides a cultural touchstone for a famously combative political environment that, as the vote draws near, is becoming surprisingly laced with humor.
With all sides seeking a popularity edge ahead of the March 17 election, the 12th season of the show is keeping politicians uneasy that they could become the butt of the next national joke.
“For a show like this, war and elections are its ultimate fuel. What’s not good for the country is good for Eretz Nehederet,” said Roy Bar-Natan, a comedian who portrays Israel’s main opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, on the show, poking particular fun at Herzog’s notoriously nasal voice.
But it’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is the show’s omnipresent target of first choice. The executive producer, Muli Segev, rejects charges that the program is overtly hostile to the right-wing nationalist bloc headed by Netanyahu. He insists it’s just a satirist’s job to mock the powerful – and there’s nobody more powerful at present than “Bibi,” as the Likud Party leader is known.
“We don’t let anyone off the hook and we definitely do not act on behalf of anyone’s political interest,” Segev said. “Naturally we focus more on who is in power.”