Arab Labor, Israeli television sit-com, three episodes, produced by Yoni Faron, directed by Roni Ninio, written and created by Sayed Kashua and Daniel Faron
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Arab Labor is a controversial television sit-com that is aired in Israel and has developed quite an audience because it is politically incorrect, as comedies tend to be. Even the name of the series is controversial. In Israel, Jews often sneer “Arab Labor” whenever a project is poorly or haphazardly done; the expression is used as a put-down to describe inferior workmanship.
In the three episodes chosen for the Jewish Film Festival, we meet Amjad (Norman Issa), an Arab who works for an Israeli news organization as a reporter and commentator. On the air, he is a staunch defendant of the Arab people and their causes, but off-the-air, he is almost cravenly determined to become just like the Jews so that he can avoid being discriminated against.
After being pulled over by Israeli police at a checkpoint to have his car’s trunk inspected, he is determined to learn how they know he is Arab and not a Jew. After all, he wears western clothes, looks like any other Semite, and smiles pleasantly at the officers. Meir (Mariano Idelman) , his Jewish friend at work, tells him that it is because he drives an old Suburu, which he describes as an “Arab car.” So Amjad decides to buy himself a Land Rover, clearly the kind of car a wealthy Israeli would drive.
Getting the car takes Amjad and his father (Salim Dau) to an unscrupulous Arab dealer who gets most of his inventory off the books. While they at it, at Meir’s request, they also request a metallic door for Meir’s car, which is just as easily arranged. But one comedic mishap after another will interfere with Amjad’s plan to become “just like them.”
In another episode, Amjad is on the same quest, but he decides what he really needs to do is buy a condo in a Jewish development and while he’s at it, to get a dog—even though Arabs are reputed to hate dogs and vice versa. Of course, nothing goes as planned.
Amjad’s wife Bushra (Clara Khoury) is the voice of sanity in this television series, while Mira Awad is the voice of feminism, egalitarianism and nationalism all rolled into one as an idealistic cause-supporting Arab lawyer.
Besides playing off stereotypes, the sit-com also harvests various opportunities for misunderstanding. When a local rabbi, on Meir’s suggestion, chooses Amjad’s father to purchase the chametz before Passover, no one really explains the custom to the dad. He willingly buys all the chametz for a token amount of money …. and then turns around to sell it all on the Internet!
While some of the situations are locally derived, the series transcends international humor boundaries. Three generations watched a screener for this series together at my home – my son-in-law, me, and my father-law (38, 65, and 92)—and we all laughed hard during some of the scenes. Two of us were born in the United States, and the youngest in Israel.
The episodes will be shown as part of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 15, at the Clairemont Reading 14 theatre complex, 4665 Clairemont Drive.
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Harrison is editor of