Liberman accused of encouraging sexual harassment in Sacha Baron Cohen spoof

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has become famous for getting American politicians in trouble by filming them following instructions given to them by a macho Israeli anti-terror instructor character he plays on his Showtime series.

When Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman tried the same shtick Tuesday by parodying the Baron Cohen character in a New Year’s video, he found that he was the one in the hot seat.

Activists have criticized the video for “encouraging sexual harassment,” over a skit in which Liberman is shown how to take pictures of a woman under her burka.

The spoof video is based on Baron Cohen’s segment from “Who Is America?” with Jason Spencer, which led to the Georgia lawmaker’s resignation from the State House of Representatives.

Spencer came under pressure to quit after the clip aired in June showing him yelling racial epithets and shimmying his exposed rear end toward purported Muslim attackers screaming “USA” and “America,” at Baron Cohen’s instruction.

In the spoof, an instructor, who looks and sounds similar to Baron Cohen’s Col. Erran Morad character, teaches Liberman how to defend himself against a burka-clad terrorist.

The video, released ahead of Rosh Hashanah, was intended to be a New Year’s greeting sent by Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party.

Paralleling the Baron Cohen clip, Liberman’s instructor shows the defense minister how to detect a terrorist using a selfie stick. After first pretending to take photos of himself, he puts the stick under the bottom of a burka worn by an actress to check for bombs.

שנה טובה לחיילי צה"ל. עם ישראל אוהב אתכם! pic.twitter.com/XwgjQ6FmA1

— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) September 4, 2018

Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director of The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, condemned the video.

“Defense Minister Liberman’s decision to show an act of sexual humiliation of Muslim women as a New Year’s greeting is perverse and distorted,” she said.

“Liberman presents the humiliation and degradation that women suffer during security checks as something funny,” she said. “Photographing under a dress is a criminal offense, but this video encourages sexual harassment and turns it into a joke.”

She demanded that the defense minister apologize and immediately remove the clip from his social media accounts.

Bracha Barad, executive director of the feminist organization Kulan, also decried the video.

“This is another old man who doesn’t understand the new reality he is in,” she said. “There is a big difference between a comedian presenting a program in a funny way, and a minister who is responsible for the security of the citizens of Israel.”

Liberman’s office responded to the criticism, saying, “This is a humorous video for the New Year and should be treated as such.”

In the Hebrish video clip, the instructor also shows the defense minister a “machine that can detect terroristim” — which looks like a regular metal detector, similar to the “pedophile detector” Baron Cohen used to spoof Alabama Republican Roy Moore, and which beeps as it passes near Liberman.

The video continues with a parody of the clip in which Baron Cohen convinced Spencer to scream out a racist term, though Liberman suggests instead shouting “Vodka” or “Static and Ben El.” It also plays on Baron Cohen’s segment on arming kindergarten pupils, but the instructor speaks of in-utero self defense instead.

The clip ends with Liberman saying that Israel does not need any of these gimmicks because it has the best army in the world, and wishing viewers a happy New Year.