MELVILLE, New York — Actor Alec Baldwin was in the news last week, as he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a man during a parking dispute. Baldwin has been in the middle of many controversies in the past, including what Israel-related event?
A. The Dominican newspaper El Nacional ran an article about Donald Trump and Israel, following Trump’s comments last year that the Israeli West Bank settlements “don’t help the [peace] process.” The article was accompanied by a picture of Israel Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and, inadvertently, a photo of Alec Baldwin, made up as Donald Trump for a Saturday Night Live sketch.
B. In 2017, Alec Baldwin performed on Broadway in a production of the play Orphans. The Shubert Organization, which produced the show, planned a one-night production of the show in Tel Aviv as a fundraiser to support Israel’s Habima Theatre. The original cast were all scheduled to perform; however, Baldwin backed out in support of the BDS movement, after he was contacted and pressured by his friend Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, a BDS activist.
C. Baldwin visited Israel in 2013 and made an appearance at the Western Wall. He happened to come upon a bar mitzvah celebration, and when the celebrants began dancing a hora around the bar mitzvah boy, a rabbi grabbed Baldwin’s hand and tried to bring him into the circle. Baldwin shoved the rabbi, and police moved in. Baldwin says that he did not realize what was happening and felt threatened when he was grabbed. No charges were filed, and the actor apologized and made a donation to The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the body responsible for overseeing the area of the Western Wall.
D. Baldwin has had frequent run-ins with photographers, including during a trip to Israel that he took with his wife Hilaria in 2014. When a photographer got too close to Hilaria in the Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, Baldwin punched him, and more dramatically given the location, called the photographer a “f-ing terrorist.”
E. In the spring of 2016, Alec Baldwin appeared on the Israeli television satire program, Eretz Nehederet, which is often referred to as the Israeli Saturday Night Live. The sketch depicted an actor as Netanyahu, making a phone call to Donald Trump (played by Baldwin), asking Trump for advice on how to handle the media that was regularly attacking him. Baldwin, as Trump, never managed to answer the question, spending the entire time trying to get the Prime Minister’s name right, saying “Shalom, Bubbie, um, Bobby? Bo Bo? Baba Ganoush? Wait, what is it? Bim Bam? Boobies? Well, whatever. Thanks for calling. Bye bye. Oh, is that it? Bye Bye?” It was as a result of this sketch that Baldwin was later hired by SNL to replace Darrell Hammond as their Trump impersonator.
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Zimmerman is the author of the Rashi, Rambam and Ramalamadingdong series of Jewish trivia e-books. Learn more at http://www.rrrjewishtrivia.com