Jerry Seinfeld delivered a forceful defense of Israel at Duke University Tuesday, calling out the “Free Palestine” movement as fundamentally toxic as the Ku Klux Klan.
The Jewish comedian made his remarks during an unannounced appearance at a Duke event honoring Israeli hostages, where he introduced former captive Omer Shem Tov, who was held by Hamas for 505 days after being kidnapped at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.
“Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews,” Seinfeld told the audience. “By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think. So it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ Okay, that’s honest.”
According to Duke officials, Seinfeld’s appearance was kept secret beforehand at his own request, and the university “does not preview remarks of speakers who are invited to campus.” The event was organized primarily by Chabad at Duke, along with the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East and various Jewish student organizations.
Since the October 7 Hamas massacre that killed 1,200 civilians and resulted in approximately 250 hostages being taken, Seinfeld has been an outspoken supporter of the Jewish state throughout the ongoing conflict. Along with his family, he visited Israel in December 2023, meeting with devastated hostage families in what he described at the time as “heartbreaking moments.”
But this wasn’t Seinfeld’s first encounter with the antisemitic mob trying to silence Jewish voices. Just last May, roughly 100 Duke students staged a pathetic walkout during his commencement speech, waving Palestinian flags and chanting their tired slogans.
At a comedy show in Sydney, Australia, over the summer pro-Hamas protesters interrupted his performance with chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen. He’s solved the Middle East!” Seinfeld responded sarcastically to hecklers. “It’s the Jewish comedians, that’s who we have to get! They’re the ones doing everything.”
Earlier this year, at a Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary event, an influencer attempted to get Seinfeld to say “Free Palestine” while taking a selfie. Seinfeld’s response was blunt: “I don’t care about Palestine.”
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