Just under three weeks after waves of terrorists breached the Israeli border communities on October 7, leaving behind a trail of blood and forever altering our collective DNA in this small, burning place, British screenwriter Lee Kern boarded a plane and came to Israel.
"I was supposed to stay for three days, but I just kept staying and staying," he shares in an interview ahead of the CoPro TV conference on May 29 in Tel Aviv. "After October 7, it felt completely natural for me to leave everything and come here to support my people."
And make no mistake, we are absolutely "his people." Kern, who was Oscar-nominated for his screenplay for Borat 2, has since officially made Aliyah. He's now been living in Israel for ten months, at a Tel Aviv location he prefers not to disclose, and he’s experiencing the madness of this country firsthand. Even his bio on X (formerly Twitter) reads, as clearly as can be, "Proud Israeli."
The catalyst for this major shift was the October 7 massacre. Kern says it was immediately clear to him that it wasn't just a terrorist attack, but, as he puts it, "a war against the Jewish people, not just in Israel."
But how exactly did this happen? How did you come here just three weeks after that horror, while everything here was in upheaval? Some might call that act crazy.
"Alongside my work, I was very involved in fighting antisemitism in England. We had to deal with an antisemite named Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party. He called Hamas his friends. He described them as knights of social justice. He laid wreaths, if I’m not mistaken, on the graves of the Munich massacre planners. He’s a full-blown antisemite, and he could’ve become Prime Minister. So, I was very vocal about it and didn’t care that it might harm my career."
And he still doesn't care. If you follow Kern on X, you probably know how uncompromisingly blunt he is in defending Israel and how aggressively he attacks critics of the country and its actions. For him, social media isn’t a game, it’s a weapon. The humour that built his career, including working with Sacha Baron Cohen on Who Is America? and Borat 2, is largely absent from his posts. In its place: blinding fury over the distortions and disinformation fuelling global antisemitism, and a big mouth broadcasting that rage to his followers.
"My audience on X has grown, but I was frustrated that my colleagues in entertainment didn’t speak out," he says about those early days after the attack. "I felt a historical responsibility to say something, and I couldn’t work. How can you work when something like this is happening? If the biggest murder of Jews since the Holocaust isn’t enough to make you take action, what horror will be enough to get your ass up and do something? Cannibalism?"
So, Kern stepped into the gaping void of Israeli public diplomacy post-October 7,front and center. He even packed his bags and moved here.
"I have no doubt that we're dealing with the cruellest, most sociopathic enemies imaginable," he asserts. "Historically, we've always faced the worst bastards. And this culture... it breeds sociopaths. It’s a psychotic culture that glorifies death, blowing yourself up, becoming a shahid. This concept of jihad and self-harm is so evil, it’s a rewiring of human nature."
Some claim we brought this on ourselves through over seven decades of occupation.
"Really? Then why are they blowing themselves up in Pakistan and Iraq? They’re not living under occupation, if we’re using that term. And what about those who blew themselves up in the London subway? They weren’t from Gaza. It’s ideology. It’s brainwashing. People say, ‘Oh, they’re so angry.’ So am I, just as angry as them. But do I go out and commit terrorism? No, because I respect democracy, decency, and secular society."
'Since the dawn of time, people have believed every lie and conspiracy about Jews'
Kern grew up in London in a working-class Jewish family. "A family of boxers and cab drivers," he clarifies. He inherited his fighting spirit from his ancestors, who fought fascists in London’s streets with their bare fists. "Even after WWII, there were still Nazi sympathizers in England," he explains. "They’d march through the Jewish neighbourhoods in the East End of London, and Jews would organize to stop them. My grandparents and uncles were part of that."
As a young man, any mention of Israel on TV would trigger something deep in Kern. "I instinctively knew there were people who wanted to f*** us and kill us." At Cambridge University, he encountered open antisemitism for the first time. "I tried to cross a hallway; someone blocked my way and called me a Yid, which is like Kike. So we fought, and it ended. Then at 4 a.m., I’m asleep and the cops bang on the door. They arrested me and took me to a holding cell. Turns out the guy who called me a Yid was half Palestinian."
Until then, he says, "I honestly wasn’t very aware of the issue. But suddenly, it hit me- I’m Jewish." Another formative moment came after college, during his first job at a documentary production company in Oxford. "One morning, a stranger approached me, holding up a copy of The Guardian with the headline: ‘Jenin Massacre.’ He said, ‘Look what those f***ing Israelis did, they’re animals.’"
That’s when Kern realized that people don’t just believe the worst about Jews, they want to believe it. "Since the dawn of time, people have believed every lie and conspiracy about Jews, from spreading plagues, to poisoning wells, to drinking Christian children’s blood. You have to bypass logic to believe that stuff. You have to want it to be true. And that continues today in the global media, where the top journalists abandon fact-checking and evidence. They want us to be guilty."
Kern specifically targets the media. "These aren’t journalists, they’re activists. They believe they have a moral obligation. Professionalism is a thing of the past. Being objective is now seen as failure."
How do they not see what we’re going through here?
"The war is against them too, and they don’t even know it. Islamists and jihadists are fighting them—whether they like it or not—and they don’t know."
Do you feel frustrated that so few are fighting disinformation like you? Were you disappointed by anyone specific?
"Everyone. Everyone disappointed me. They’re cowards. There’s this narrative: ‘This famous comedian or actor is working behind the scenes.’ I say: go f*** yourselves. Since when do they do anything behind the scenes? Their whole career is about being in the public eye. They pay PR agents to be seen. Now suddenly they’re shy? This is pure cowardice. They use people like me as human shields."
Kern claims he wasn’t disappointed, because he never expected anything from celebrities. "We’re all messed up, in and outside this business. The people who crave fame? They’re the worst of us. They need validation from strangers. But if you haven’t stood up and spoken by now, we don’t need you. The real heroes of advocacy aren’t celebs, they’re regular people who stand up for Israel because it’s the right thing to do.
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"And all they get in return is abuse and mental anguish, yet they still do it. But celebrities? What’s stopping them? It’s not like bullets are flying at them like the Israeli kids going into Gaza three, four times. You’re scared someone might call you names online? Go f*** yourselves. It’s pathetic and shameful."
Naturally, he’s most enraged by Jewish celebs. "I hate the famous Jews who fooled the world into thinking they’re heroic. They’re the most tattered souls, and they won’t risk anything for Jews. They’d rather watch us marched into gas chambers than risk their own status. Harsh words—but the evidence speaks for itself."
You, on the other hand, are willing to risk yourself.
"No, because I’m an idiot," he laughs. "I’m just a proud Jew. I won’t let people kill us. My career isn’t more important than that."
Can you understand those who stay silent for fear of their careers?
"Maybe I understand, but I have no sympathy. You know what? No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how a human being can see babies murdered, women raped, people kidnapped, and not do something. I just don’t get it."
Anyone specific you think should’ve spoken up but didn’t?
"No. I know what you want me to say. But you can see for yourself who spoke and who didn’t. And even when someone did say something: ‘Oh wow! Once in 18 months you said something! Didn’t know the hostages were only captive for that moment you decided to speak up. What a f***ing hero you are!’
This is an ongoing war, and they should’ve stood by Israel day after day. I believe that even a single mega-celebrity speaking out could’ve changed public opinion. But it didn’t happen."
What about celebs like David Schwimmer or Debra Messing?
"Yeah, but there weren’t enough of them. We need someone confrontational, someone known for aggressive comedy, who can handle the hate and trolls, who can inject some steel into Jewish veins. Courage breeds courage. You know, I’d get messages from celebs saying, ‘Well done, love what you’re doing.’ Oh really? Go f*** yourself. Don’t praise me, do something yourself. You can reach a million times more people than I can."
'After watching 47 minutes of October 7 video, I felt my DNA had changed'
Kern doesn’t want to talk about internal Israeli politics, mainly because, as he says, he doesn’t understand enough yet. Language is the main barrier. "From my perspective, our failure lies in how we handled the information war. I honestly believe we could’ve won it, and people think I’m insane for saying that."
In his view, the mistake was that Israeli and Jewish spokespeople were on defence instead of offense. "If you're explaining, you’re losing. You’ll lose either way. There shouldn’t be hasbara (explanation), it should be 100% attack. We spent time putting out fires, spokespeople running around like idiots, as if they don’t understand manipulation, which is exactly what was done to us."
Kern, for his part, refused to share some of the horror videos from October 7 on social media as part of his advocacy efforts. "It’s a fact that sharing those videos will traumatize families forever, and only speculation that it might bring people to our side. So I went with the facts."
His life, he says, has changed significantly since moving here, not just in the obvious practical ways. "I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore," he laughs. "Before the war, I sold a script to Amazon and was working on an animated project with Jim Henson’s studio.
"Then this happened, and it consumed everything. It’s been hard to go back to what I was doing before. Psychologically and physically, I can’t do it. I’ve turned down offers, famous comedians wanted me to write for their shows, and I refused. It just felt trivial compared to what I’m doing now."
There was one specific moment, Kern says, after which he was no longer the same person. "After watching the 47-minute horror video, I felt physically changed. I truly believe that. I feel like my cells, my DNA, have changed. One thing that’s come out of it, as a writer, is that I now only write from the heart. That’s the only way I can write now.
"If someone came to me and asked me to write a comedy about a duck who becomes a firefighter, I’d say no. I’ve got rocket fuel in me now, but I can’t be a hired pen anymore, I have to write only from my soul."
Were you worried about what making aliyah might do to your career?
"No, I didn’t care. I believe that the more aligned you are with your true soul, the better you’ll do. Every success in my career came when I was most myself."
These days, Kern is writing a non-fiction book. "I’m writing, that’s what I’ve always done. I’ve never experienced writer’s block. I see a blank page, and I feel at home. I can write 15–16 hours a day. And this book, I feel like I must finish it before I die. I’m not planning to die, but if this is the last thing I leave behind, I’m okay with that. Everything I’ve done in my career led me here."
Even when he worked on what he calls “stupid comedy,” Kern gave it his all. "But at the time, I didn’t give a f***. It was just a gig."
One of those gigs took you to the Oscars.
"Yeah, but if I once felt like everything in my life was in service of my career, now I just don’t care. Who even watches movies anymore?" he jokes.
'It’s okay to be weird here. It’s okay to be you. In Israel, you can breathe'
Kern’s most prominent credits, Who Is America? and Borat 2 (he was a producer and writer on the first, one of the writers on the second), came after he made a name for himself in the genre of satirical pranks. It all started, he says, in the lead-up to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding.
"I had the idea to pose as someone from Buckingham Palace, and prank celebrities into doing stupid things for the royal wedding."
This became a TV special and later evolved into a six-part series (Celebrity Bedlam), in which, among other things, Kern convinced a former X Factor contestant to wear a coat supposedly made of human skin. Kern gets a bit irritated when the prank genre comes up, not because of the topic itself, but when the name of comedian Eric Andre is mentioned.
"I don’t think Eric Andre is funny. It’s f***ing trash. Embarrassing trash, a con," he fumes. "It’s just empty noise. I remember watching Tom Green growing up, he was a true poet of absurdism, ahead of his time. It’s an art form to connect absurd images into a dumb whole that makes you laugh. But Eric Andre? That’s crap. I do like Nathan Fielder, though.
Anyway, I’m done with the prank world. That was never my intention. It just came to me. That’s what TV wanted back then."
So far, Kern has only been minimally exposed to Israeli culture. "The language barrier still gets in the way," he admits, "though I’m getting used to it. But I have seen Shtisel. It’s the best TV show ever made. Better than The Sopranos."
Better than The Sopranos?!
"Yes, Shtisel. No doubt. It’s better than The Sopranos because it does something much more difficult. Automatically, The Sopranos grabs your attention, gangsters, guns, shooting. But Shtisel is about quiet, ordinary lives, the drama is deep, and it has poetic grandeur.
"One of the most touching shows I’ve ever seen. It has that thing where the personal becomes universal. The feeling is completely authentic, like it was written by people who truly know that world."
Life in Israel is good for him—even amid the surrounding chaos. "I fell in love with the place," he says simply. "I just love it."
Is there anything you don’t like here?
"Of course—I’m not an idiot. There are those Israelis who approach you with condescension: ‘You know, it’s not all roses here.’ Oh really? I’ve lived over four decades—thanks for letting me know life is complicated."
So what don’t you like about Israel? The traffic?
"Don’t make me laugh. I’m from London. No, what worries me is the polarization between people here. When Jews talk about other Jews with the same hatred they talk about Hamas, I can’t connect to that. Even when you’re discussing the failures of October 7 and the war, if you don’t mention Hamas, I really struggle with that.
They don’t hate us for what we do, they hate us for who we are. It’s arrogant to think they’re just little robots reacting to you, and they have no culture or history that led them to this."
"I know Israelis love to hate themselves—but you don’t understand what an optimistic, dynamic country this is, how deeply rooted that optimism is in Jewish instinct.
In England, we had decades of smug cultural gatekeepers from the middle class. But here? I’ve never seen such a collection of eccentric individualists. It’s okay to be weird here. It’s okay to be yourself. In Israel, you can breathe."
What’s your Favorite place in Israel?
"Everywhere I go, I say to myself, ‘You should live here.’ When I’m in the desert, I think, ‘F***, I should live in the desert.’ When I’m in the north, I think, ‘I should live in the north.’ And I love Jerusalem. There are these Tel-Avivians who say, ‘I hate Jerusalem.’ And I say, ‘Are you f***ing crazy? It’s such a beautiful, insane place, the perfect city for this insane world.’"