‘If Hamas and the Taliban are on your side, you’re probably on the wrong side’
Yechiel Jacobs is the rising Instagram star who made us laugh again
Brigit Grant is the Jewish News Supplements Editor
There have been four-letter rants from @LeeKern, hurled curses from
@MichaelRappaport, implored understanding from @LizzySavetsky and @ZehavaBracha has warned antisemites to expect bagels
in their mailbox.
Their delivery and messages of defiance could not be more different but their support for Israel unites them. This year has delivered too much of what we would sooner forget, but the explosion of driven, uncompromising mouthy Jews on social media is worth toasting. In fact, we should buy all the savvy responders a drink as they – @andrewgoldheretics, @konstantinkisin and @douglasmurray and many others – have stood guard while hitting back on behalf of the Holy Land. Their informed ripostes to the vitriolic swarm on X and antagonists on YouTube raise a smile, but after October 7 we knew it would take more than a finger to the wind to signal when we could laugh again. Yechiel Jacobs made that decision on his own and his 170,000 followers on Instagram proved he was right.
That he was a real estate agent and not a trepidatious comedian probably worked in his favour, as his only funny guy credits a year ago were earned at the Friday night dinner table. “The idea of being a comedian on social media was not on the radar at all,” he says, but suggests he was bred to perform as he was only eight when he joined his father Sam, a Manchester-born magician, on stage. “He would make me disappear and we did a juggling act together, but the humour comes from my mom’s side.”
On October 7, Yechiel, who is Orthodox, was in synagogue in Florida enjoying Simchat Torah until someone with a security phone was notified about the attacks in Israel. “At first he said 200 people had been murdered, but the numbers kept going up. Later we saw the Hamas video of the young girl being pushed into the Jeep.”
Yechiel has always been passionate about Israel as he was born there, after his Australian-born mother, Danielle, emigrated there. “Our family members have fought in every war and my great-grandfather was born in Old Jerusalem before the state was established, so we’re very connected to the land.”
His older sister Yocheved is in the army and he is so connected that seeing his people being taken hostage into Gaza in real time tore Yechiel apart. “At that very moment people were bleeding out and dying. It was horrible. Then almost immediately it was Israel’s fault. Worse still, some people denied it entirely”.
Aged 23, Yechiel is a digital veteran and the anti-Israel videos he saw sickened him into action. “The video that triggered me was posted by a girl who said: ‘If you have Ben Shapiro and Amy Schumer on your side, you’re probably on the wrong side.’ In other words the Jewish side. So I responded with my own.”
In that video of Yechiel at the wheel of his car he replies: “If you have Hamas, Isis and the Taliban on your side, you’re probably on the wrong side,” and it dropped on Instagram on 12 November 2023. “I realised the only response to blatant lies was sarcasm and humour. Laughing at her stupidity allowed me to bring in facts, but what I did wasn’t planned. It was my natural response to what I saw.”
Yechiel then turned his Instagram account from private to public. Bingo! “In a week it had 300,000 views. People were loving the video, so I figured OK, I’ll do another, and that got half a million views and so, to cut a long story short, here we are.”
His thousands of followers were intrigued and then obsessed with Yechiel’s overtly theatrical, pointed and hilarious takedowns of woke Hamas supporters and university protesters on hunger strikes. To see him killing them with comedy was exactly what young Jews needed and still do.
“I say what they are thinking. To mock and belittle the people who poured salt on our wounds after the worst things happened to us is satisfying and supportive,” notes Yechiel. “A lot of people aren’t interested when they see a video about Israel, but I’m reaching a different group with videos that are funny and everybody wants to laugh. But I’m also bringing facts, so those who don’t know walk away knowing a little bit more about Israel.”
Biting back at the Eurovision Song Contest remains Yechiel at his best and his description of Ireland entrant Bambi – “You make Freddy Kreuger look like a Smurf”– is much-quoted and his dance routines to bolshie reworded songs are copied. Some skits also include his mum, who is his ‘momager’, as Yechiel is now doing live comedy in the US and got an invite to Mexico City. But his newfound internet fame in defence of Israel comes at a price.
“As I got more followers, there was a lot of hate and death threats. They found out who my mom was and messaged her saying, ‘Your son’s not safe, you’re not safe. We’re coming for you.’ It made me nervous, so I considered stopping, but realised by giving up I’d be letting them win.”
Israelis had seen Yechiel verbally shredding terrorist sympathisers and, on a recent visit, they knew his face. “In the States people ask for a picture, but in Israel they came over to say thank you. To be genuinely appreciated there meant something because Israelis, my own family included, have been through so much pain and agony and the entire world said nothing so they feel alone.”
For that reason Yechiel has no guilt about success in the wake of October 7 sorrow, as an invite to perform at the Laugh Factory in LA or the New York Comedy Club is an invitation to stand up for his people. “I was super nervous as I’d never done stand-up, but once I got going I absolutely loved it,” he says. “I’m coming from a place of wanting to do something good.”
See Yechiel doing his Ireland Eurovision analysis and more:https://www.instagram.com/jacobsyechiel/reel/C64WU2bv7vL/
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