In August, a poll found that the vast majority of Israeli Jews said they were “not so troubled” or “not troubled at all” by reports of famine and suffering among the Palestinian population in Gaza. Amid an ongoing genocide, these statistics may seem shocking. But despite the narrative pushed by Israel to western nations like Canada, its population has largely supported apartheid in Palestine, even before Oct. 7.
This disconnect is explored in Coexistence, My Ass!, a new documentary about the semi-famous Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi and her one-woman show about the Israel-Palestine conflict. The film has won numerous awards, and landed in the top five in the audience choice category when it played at Hot Docs in the spring. It’s showing again at Hot Docs on Sunday, Nov. 2 and again on Nov 14.
I had a chance to see the documentary at the Toronto Arab Film Festival in the summer, which included a Q&A with Lebanese-Canadian director Amber Fares (Speed Sisters). Shot between 2019 and 2024,the film follows Eliassi as she performs stand-up sets, travels for a fellowship at Harvard, speaks at protests in Israel pre- and post-Oct. 7 and visits her home community, a commune of Palestinians and Israelis living together. Originally planned to profile Eliassi’s burgeoning comedy career, the film still tries to fit in some laughs (with varied success), but overall the tone is more serious, especially as the situation in the region goes from bad to worse.
At its core, Coexistence, My Ass! offers insight into the gulf between the rosy image of coexistence that Israel wants to broadcast to the world and the actual apartheid system in place. In 2022, Amnesty International described this system as one that involves “massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians.”
A small number of Palestinians living in Israel are interviewed in the film (though not for long enough), and it’s clear that they know coexistence was always a charade meant to hide the vast power imbalances and make Israelis feel good about the system. For the few Palestinians interviewed, like Eliassi’s childhood best friend, they go along with it and pretend because, well, what choice do they have?
Following Oct. 7, the film follows Eliassi as she attempts to process what happened. She attends memorials for the victims of the attack, such as one for Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver, which includes a discussion with Silver’s son, who is very critical of Israel. This critique of Israel didn’t get much play in Canada, where Silver’s death was instrumentalized by pro-Israel commentators. This moving, eye-opening interview is one of the most interesting pieces of new information in the film for Canadian audiences.
But while a few people in Eliassi’s life are critical of their government, we also watch as her aunt begins to express support for the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This, the film suggests, reflects a broader shift that emerged in mainstream Israel over the past two years. Eliassi goes from being invited as a guest on a mainstream TV talk show to being completely shut out of major media platforms.
Incapable of meeting her fellow Israelis “where they’re at,” we watch as Eliassi chooses to use her voice to resist the genocide.
In the Q&A at the Revue Cinema in Toronto with independent journalist Pacinthe Matter, the film’s director Fares acknowledged that if she knew what would be happening in 2025 when the film came out, she would have made a different movie, one that centred Palestinian stories. It’s an astute self-reflection, but it’s also important to have films made for western audiences that look clearly at what is happening in Israeli society.
The nonchalance of support for genocide there is extremely chilling.
Coexistence, My Ass! seems to fit into a pretty narrow lineage of films on this subject, like Israelism (Feb 2023) and Matzpen (2003), which tell stories of anti-Zionist Jews trying to fight against Zionism, while juxtaposing them against hardline Zionists.
The film is set to open in theatres in select U.S. cities this month, after signing a self-distribution deal with the same company that coordinated the U.S. distribution of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
If you’re curious to know more about conversations happening within Israel, it’s worth a watch.
Coexistence, My Ass! Is playing at Hot Docs on Nov. 2 and 14, Co-Presented by the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival.
