Yechiel Jacobs Answered Israel’s Haters in Character. Hundreds of Millions

Comedian Yechiel Jacobs, whose viral videos mocking anti-Israel claims have made him one of the most recognizable pro-Israel voices online, says anger was what first pushed him to pick up his camera after October 7.

In an interview with i24NEWS, Jacobs said he began making videos about a month after the Hamas massacre. He was responding to people online who were spreading false claims about Israel and the Jewish people.

"I think anger was the driving force," he said. He described watching people claim that October 7 never happened, or that the victims deserved it, while families were still waiting for their loved ones held hostage in Gaza. "I decided, I'm going to use this anger and this drive that I have, but I'm going to use it in a positive way."

His first video was a response to a woman who had made inflammatory claims about Israel. Jacobs answered in character, imitating the Italian American comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. "If you got Hamas, ISIS, the Taliban and Hezbollah on your side, maybe you're on the wrong side of things, lady," he said in the clip.

At the time, Jacobs had 863 followers on Instagram. By the next day, the video had half a million views. His next video passed a million, and he kept going.

Jacobs said the character works because it refuses to take false claims seriously. Responding to such people with a serious rebuttal, he explained, can give them validation and a platform. The character dismisses what they are saying, while still letting him bring the facts "in a funny way."

Asked whether his videos have changed anyone's mind, Jacobs shared a story from a show in Miami. A non-Jewish woman, who he believed was from Mexico, paid for a meet and greet after the performance. She told him she had known little about Israel before she started watching his videos. The following month, she booked a trip to Israel with her father for the first time.

"Forget about changing people's minds," Jacobs said. "It's making people aware just of the beautiful state of Israel, of the Jewish people, about our amazing culture."

He said comedians and official spokespeople "both have their place," but argued that humor is especially effective with younger audiences who get their information by scrolling social media. People skip serious videos, he said, but they stop for something that makes them laugh.

His advocacy has come at a cost. Jacobs said he received a flood of death threats and hate early on, including messages to his mother warning, "We're going to find you and your son." For a while, he considered quitting.

Instead, he chose to double down. He began posting a video every day and says he has since reached hundreds of millions of people. He now performs stand-up across the United States, with security at his shows. He said there have been threats against some performances, though nothing has happened.

Most of the recognition he gets, he said, is warm, especially from Israelis. He recalled one man approaching him in a Jerusalem shuk to say how much he loved his "antisemitism videos." A British couple who overheard the exchange looked at him in alarm and asked whether he was an antisemite. "No, no, it's not what it looks like," Jacobs recalled telling them.

He also revealed that, despite performing for crowds of 2,000 people, he is an introvert who struggles with social anxiety in everyday conversations.

Jacobs ended the interview with news for his Israeli fans. "In the next few months, I'm going to be doing a tour here in Israel," he said. "So stay tuned."