By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — The list of famous people President Obama has invited to the White House is something most of us would find surprising, amusing, and even outrageous. He has on occasions invited Gangsta Rappers like the rap artist named Common, whose poetical lyrics extols the virtues of cannibalism, rape, incest, domestic violence, torture, murder and warfare. On other occasions he has invited the singer Psy, whose famous song Gam-gam Style, broke many musical records—despite the fact, he expressed hatred for everything American just a few years before his hit.
Toward the end of June, 2013, Obama quietly invited Sheik Abdullah bin Bayyah to the White House for talks on “moderation.” Sheik bin Bayyah’s reputation for promoting Radical Islam is legendary. Some pundits think he went to the White House to urge the President to help topple the Syrian regime of Assad. Yet, let us not forget that this same individual has championed the wholesale slaughter of Jews, suicide bombings, stoning homosexuals, and declared war on the United States.
Now, there is one person in particular the President has never invited to the White House—the Egyptian satirist and heart physician—Bassem Youssef, who is considered to be Egypt’s version of Jon Stewart.
Youssef’s implacable ridicule of Mohammed Morsi has made him one of Egypt’s most important social critics and heroes of the Revolution. Dictators like Morsi are not used to being lampooned before an adoring listening audience. They believe that being satirized damages their prestige.
Youssef explained on one occasion that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists believe that they’re on a divine mission to remake Egyptian society after the image of the almighty, they are apt to see criticism of them as tantamount to insulting God. In a recent episode, Youssef took up the challenge directly, apologizing to his audience for getting serious and then launching an attack against those he terms as, “the merchants of religion.” He adds further, “Don’t be surprised if you see the people who are supposed to be the religious ones cursing and bullying people . . .They look at us not as Muslims and Christians, no. As infidels, hypocrites, enemies of religion, enemies of the lord. So, we deserve to be cursed and humiliated, even if it goes as far as beating and torture and maybe after that, God forbid, killing.”
Youssef is a very brave man; men like him who dared to critique the status quo in Egypt have often met a violent death. Such a fate once befell the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Naguib Mahfouz, who was stabbed in the neck by an Islamist militant, and the journalist Farag Foda, murdered by another.
His humor is biting yet gentle; he fights for the common Egyptian. When I think of Youssef’s courage, he reminds me of a biblical prophet. Did they use humor too?
Youssef shows real guts and displays exceptional courage by airing his show and publicly voicing many of the questions individual Egyptians ask in private. Despite all the controversy, Youssef’s show has proven to be a phenomenal success that many Egyptian viewers believe gives them hope for a better tomorrow.
It’s hardly a wonder why Obama has never invited such a man—such a hero probably might politely but satirically tell the President that he should not invite Radical Islamicists like Morsi or other famous terrorists to the White House and give them an aura of respectability.
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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted via michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com