Colbert show mocks Trump’s recognition of Israel’s capital

While many critics of US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital reacted with anger and in some cases violence, others satirized the move.

In an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, a mock State Department spokesman announced a number of policy changes in light of Trump’s decision, which he insisted did not impact America’s status as “an impartial observer” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“From now on, Israeli hummus is far superior to Arab hummus,” the spokesman said while holding up two bowls of the popular Middle Eastern dip, ownership of which has been claimed by both Israel and Lebanon.

“The shofar will now be considered more melodic than the mizwad,” he also said, referring respectively to the traditional Jewish horn and bagpipes from North Africa.

Having checked food and music off the list, the spokesman moved onto theater, declaring: “All future Broadway productions of Aladin will now be known as Fiddler on the Flying Carpet.”

On top of all this, he said, “We are no longer going to use Arabic numerals, algebra or math of any kind. Which is pretty obvious if you read our tax plan.”