NEW YORK (6NoBacon) — During the difficult days of Operation Pillar of Defense, as rockets are fired from Gaza on Israeli towns and the Israel Defense Forces launches airstrikes in response, Israelis are showing their resilience with humor.
Since the beginning of the operation last week, Israelis have been uploading Facebook wall posts and tweets to show that even the violence is a laughing matter.
One Israeli created a fake Facebook account for slain Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari and made his status read “in a relationship” with “72 virgins.” Another made an Israeli-Palestinian version of the popular mobile game Angry Birds. In a fake public service ad, the people of Tel Aviv were asked to drink only short espresso in order to “respond faster to the next air raid siren.”
Not everything was done for laughs, of course. On the popular website BuzzFeed, Instagram photos showed Israeli soldiers preparing for a possible operation in Gaza, and the IDF spokesperson posted eye-catching graphics on Facebook of how thousands of rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel every day. Israelis posted the same graphic but switched it to show how thousands of pro-Israel images are overpopulating everyone’s Facebook newsfeed.
Kim and Bar get in hot Twitter water
While social media has become part of the war, two popular users found themselves in the middle of it for similar reasons. Reality star Kim Kardashian tweeted that she prays for the people of Israel, enraging her pro-Palestinian followers who wished her things that should probably not be written in a family publication. Kardashian immediately responded by tweeting that she prays for both sides and everyone in the world. That didn’t change much and eventually she deleted both tweets.
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli received plenty of heat from her Israeli followers after tweeting that she is “praying for the safety of citizens on both sides.” Many Israelis called her “unpatriotic” and accused her of not caring enough about Israel. Unlike Kardashian, Refaeli stood by her words.
Stewart reviews Broadwell interview
Last week, before the crisis in Gaza took up most of the news space, people were still talking about the David Petraeus scandal. On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart allowed himself a measure of self-criticism regarding an interview he did in January with Petraeus’ biographer and paramour, Paula Broadwell.
Stewart showed clips from the interview, where Broadwell kept describing Petraeus in glowing terms. ”The whole thing was like innuendo after innuendo and I’m like, gaaaaaw!” said Stewart.
“I had her right there talking about how thick a coat of awesome sauce Petraeus is bathed in — the thing never crossed my [bleeping] mind! The whole time I was just staring at how defined her arms were!
“I am the worst journalist in the world,” he concluded. “For God’s sake, the title of her book was ‘All In’!”
Andy Cohen’s wrong direction
It’s not clear exactly what Bravo TV executive and television host Andy Cohen was thinking when he referred to fans of the popular boy band One Direction as a bunch of “twinks” in an appearance on the “Today” show. Twinks is slang for a young feminine-looking gay man.
Unsurprisingly, Cohen caught lots of heat on Twitter from the One Direction faithful. Cohen apologized five hours later, saying he had “misused” the word. “I just meant they’re cute,” he said.
It seems that the band took it in good spirits, since their spokesperson told EntertainmenWise, ”I don’t think the term ‘twink’ is offensive — it just means attractive!”
Andrew Garfield dances for charity
Apparently Andrew Garfield is quite the Renaissance man. In addition to starring in the “Amazing Spider-Man,” being the loving boyfriend of Emma Stone, the dude can dance. In an appearance on “The Ellen Show,” host Ellen DeGeneres challenged the 29-year-old British Jew to help raise money for his charity, Worldwide Orphans Foundation, by performing a dance — without music. For each dance style, Garfield would receive $1,000 for his charity. The result? A hilarious medley of the can-can, Irish jig, Beyonce and more. Garfield raised $10,000.
LaBeouf kisses Bill Nye
Actor Shia LaBeouf was ecstatic to meet Bill Nye, the Science Guy, at the SET Awards (Science, Engineering and Technology) in Beverly Hills, Calif.
”Yo, I grew up with you. This is crazy,” LaBeouf told Nye, to which Nye replied, “And you’re still talking to me … Let’s change the world!”
In response, LaBeouf kissed Nye to show his unconditional love for all to see. LeBeouf also videotaped the meeting.
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