Meet the Iranian-Jewish-Israeli Comedian Who No Longer Believes in 'Coexistence'
It’s not often that Mehdi begins an interview saying, **“I am ashamed to say, as someone who’s followed the Israel-Palestine issue for many decades, I didn’t know anything about [the ‘Oasis of Peace’].”**
In the new episode of ‘We’re Not Kidding’, Mehdi is joined by Jewish-Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi, who grew up in the small Israeli village nicknamed ‘The Oasis of Peace’. It’s the only place in Israel where Jews and Palestinians live together *voluntarily*. Noam is the subject of the new documentary ‘[Coexistence, My Ass!][1]’ (which was just [shortlisted][2] for the Academy Awards!) that tells the story of her political evolution from growing up as the poster-child of the “coexistence movement” to becoming a standup comedian determined to dismantle apartheid within Israel.
**“Let’s face it, the ‘peace community’ or the ‘coexistence community’ in Israel has failed miserably,”** Noam says. **“It can’t just be a romantic closeness. It has to be with a lot of political action.”**
[Subscribe now][3]
Mehdi and Noam also get into:
* Noam’s **“woke leftist parents” **and her **radical childhood**.
* How she went from working at the **United Nations** to becoming a** comedian**.
* The political satire that got her on [Israeli television][4].
* The effects of Oct. 7 on the Israeli comedy scene and the wave of **anti-Palestinian extremism**.
* Israeli *hasbara *and the power of its **propaganda machine**.
* And more…
*Free subscribers get a 5-minute preview of the video above while Zeteo’s paid subscribers can watch it in full. As always, you can also listen wherever you get your podcasts.*
[Spotify][5]
[Apple Podcasts][6]
*Don’t miss our **LIVE in-person event in DC:** Join **Mehdi**, **Swin**, **Joy Reid,** **Jim Acosta, Sarah Matthews,** **Miles Taylor, **and another **special guest** for a powerful evening at the Howard Theatre in **Washington, DC,** on **Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026**!*
[GET TICKETS HERE][7]
***Check out more from Zeteo:***
[ Read more ][8]
[1]: https://www.coexistencemyass.com/
[2]: https://press.oscars.org/news/98th-oscarsr-shortlists-12-award-categories-announced
[3]: https://zeteo.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnASwpBwxWo
[5]: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ogT7ZvKhH04CInjNQbbdp
[6]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/were-not-kidding-with-mehdi-friends/id1743028415
[8]: https://zeteo.com/p/meet-the-iranian-jewish-israeli-comedian
https://zeteo.com/p/meet-the-iranian-jewish-israeli-comedian