It feels like Noam Shuster Eliassi has been on the world stage since she was born. Raised in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, a community in Israel that was founded in 1969, in which Palestinians and Jews voluntarily and, most importantly, peacefully live together. As a child, she and her Palestinian friend Ranin were shaking hands with Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda, who visited the showcase project. She experienced cultural co-existence which her Iranian Jewish mother and her Israeli-born father, whose parents were Holocaust survivors from Romania, implemented with love. This is why Eliassi is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and Farsi. Her ability to seamlessly switch between the groups that usually exclude each other, leads her to politics. But at some point it becomes clear to her that she can reach maybe 20 people with her provocative humor in the UN while she can go viral on social media. Eliassi’s grandmother, however, just wants her to find a husband.

Amber Fares followed the charismatic comedian for over five years, starting in 2019, when she just got a Harvard scholarship for the development of her one woman show “Coexistence, My Ass.“ The Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th 2023 changes everything, because Eliassi, as a leftist Jew, is caught between grief and anger. She is considered a traitor for many because she shows empathy for the people in Gaza and openly promotes democracy and human rights for all people, including Palestinians. Amber’s honest and touching observation of a smart and very funny woman is justifiably in the shortlist for the Oscars. It doesn’t just reflect the dramatic political situation, but it’s also a film that the world really needs.

Susanne Kim

Translation: Elinor Lewy