Conan does Israel [with comment by Paul]

Conan O’Brien has been touring Israel over the past week for a Conan Without Borders episode of his late night show on TBS. In Israel he acted like a tourist. He hit the highlights. He approached Israelis in an ingenuous spirit of appreciation and the appreciation was mutual. If you’ve been to Israel, you know that Israelis are grateful to be seen in the same light as the rest of humanity.

Conan himself has turned to Facebook here and other social media to document his trip. He links to his accounts here. I’ve been following his trip on Twitter here. This tweet made me laugh.

Conan had some experiences not available to regular tourists. The one he documented at the Ziv Medical Center demonstrated the distinctive character of Israel in a bad, bad neighborhood.

I think Conan had some help getting this stop on his schedule too.

Katie Pavlich checked in on Conan in Israel here. Noa Amouyal has a good roundup for the Jerusalem Post here. She commented that Conan is “Roger Waters’s worst nightmare.” His heart is not full of hate.

As I say, Israelis are grateful to be judged on the same standard we apply to the rest of humanity. Amouyal offers this quote from a Foreign Ministry spokesman: “[His visit] demonstrates that Israel is a great country. And when someone like Conan says all these nice things about Israel – nobody is forcing him to do it – it’s really a great feeling.”

To take one example, the Jerusalem Post quoted Conan telling the medical teams with which he met at Ziv: “I am amazed and excited by what is being done here at Ziv for the sake of people from a neighboring country and an enemy, and I think you are the ones who need to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.” Conan can’t say that, can he? Roger Waters’s worst nightmare indeed.

In the interest of the Hinderaker aesthetic I should probably include Conan’s tweet on this stop as well.

PAUL ADDS: My wife’s cousin was an attendant on Conan’s flight to Israel. She was thrilled to meet him and have her picture taken with him.

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