Israeli Army Fan Remake of "What What (In The Butt)" Viral Video.

Bobby Ciraldo (Twitter), who co-directed the YouTube-famous music video "What What (In The Butt)," starring Samwell -- once famously parodied on South Park -- says:

This video came our way and i found it really hard not to find neato. somehow. it's a group of soldiers from the israeli army spending their time wisely by making an ambitious "what what in the butt" homage video. what what (in the butt) - Israeli IDF army version.
And you've probably already seen this one, but if not: it's a performance from what i believe is the swedish version of american idol. they actually dance to "what what" on national television! sweden must have a pretty advanced culture. (i've read that those modesty discs are crispbreads.) Knäckebröddansen Talang 2009.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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agger

Nice to see they can have some fun too in between killing Palestinians.

Here’s how they also have fun:

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072466.html
fenrox

Ah, this comment thread is probably too old by now to be read but whatever. The fact that Israeli kids can do a fun SUPER-gay video is nothing short of AWESOME.

See we live in a world that has TIME, and TIME keeps moving. And with TIME, people change, they get faster, they don’t relate to the older generations as much.

This is how all bad things come to an end, racism, sexism, religion and war will all eventually end when the people involved stop taking it so seriously.

So a video of guys (probably) mocking gay dudes while a terrible war and a bloody occupation continues, I see that as a good thing.

Also the guy in the guard booth eating a banana was sooooo hot.
Anonymous

hello! i’m Vania, the guy who made this video!
It’s nice to see there’s such a discussion about my video.
alot of people here have no idea what’s really going on in israel/palestine and just let the press feed them.
i served in the army. I belong to the left wing in Israel. I’m a pacifist. its possible in the IDF. also making fun of the army on youtube is possible, and i won’t be sent to jail. I promise you wont discover any thing new about the situation in Israel by watching this video.
i filmed this video to show that the army is full of good guys with a healthy sence of humor, unlike alot of the viewers here, and to make people think about something else but the conflict.
chill!
Rindan

A post to start and instant flame war while leaving the poster completely able to deny responsibility. I mean, you post about What What in the Butt and it turns into a Palestine vs Israel free for all. How can you blame the poster? I love it. Xeni, I salute your mastery of the flame war.

Personally, feel for the Israelis and Palestinians. You have two peoples locked in mortal conflict. Even if both sides could ignore the atrocities they have committed against each other, extremist in both camps will never relent. You can basically rest assured that Israel and Palestine are going to go down in history with their hands around each others throats. I personally would be shocked if it didn’t end in nuclear fire.
dragonfrog

X3N0S @55 – If what you said were true, that would in fact be awesome – genuine human goofiness, captured in the 1930′s on film stock and preserved until today, of tiny bit players in a historically much-discussed movement, shining a little bit of light into what was going on in real people’s lives. Fantastic.

Also, it would be kind of hard for anyone to Godwin that thread like you just did…
rebdav

While studying at an US university I decided to go for an easy A taking a middle east conflicts class. On the first day next to me sat a young woman from Ramalla, I introduced myself as having lived on a settlement near her hometown. What was interesting is while we were both nationalistic and supported our own cause by the second week we had nearly taken over the class having to jointly scold the idiot Americans for their ignorance and heavy handed approach to what we considered our personal conflict.

It was quite sad to both of us who had spent so much time in the US to find that most Americans are so disgusted by Israeli and Palestinian people that we cease to be humans in their eyes even pests worthy of wholesale nuclear destruction.

Contrary to popular western fantasy the Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Arab will have only the normal minor friction that cousins would experience at a family reunion, think Brazil and Argentina. We are mostly at war due to the leadership puppets foisted by the powerful western nations. Could your aid be because most westerners really don’t like dirty Jews and Arabs and like to see them die on TV? Americans especially I love you all, but your government is working very hard to see my family and the family of my Palestinian neighbors end up killed in some sort of gunfight.

Want to end the war and turn the middle east into a sleepy backwater where everyone wastes time making silly videos for youtube? Leave us both alone!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  rebdav ftw. There are legitimate criticisms on both sides, but there’s also a lot of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic subtext.
Takuan

I wish it were so simple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIPAC
cycle23

I could watch slightly more moments of this video than the original. I mean, come on… that guy…just smiling and staring at you… it’s just… uncomfortable.

I’m reading some book some powerful media mogul recommended I read about AIPAC just a bit right now.

I also read some of Chomsky’s opinions as well.

I was a huge fan of Einstein at some point, now just relatively so, and I know he would probably have enjoyed this song, even though he turned down an offer to preside over the budding nation this young folk are out shooting over.

Sartre is right when he says the men don’t have to pick up the gun.

There, now you know I have a sophomoric view of the world, but just to confirm it, I believe Vonnegut is also smiling at this from wherever men who believe whatever he believes is wont to go.

Also: LIBS LIBS LIBS!!! BLEEEEEYAAAAARGH
axl456

xeni youre amazing!! epic post xD
Anonymous

first of all, get some propoation, it’s just plain funny.
2ed, in every other army thouse guys would be jailed, in an arab country they would have been excuted, don’t belive me, go and see what they do to gays in arab nations.
third, i want to salute those fine young dudes for having the balls and butts to do this video.
finally, to all those rightous sad basterds with no sense of humor, you’re way to anal for your own good.
go IDF go.respect
Anonymous

And shortly after making the video they resumed their duties of shooting unarmed Palestinian women and children.
IamInnocent

Do you think that they are aiming for an early discharge?
empiresand

Hey, you know what else is funny about the Israeli Occupation Forces?

nothing.

Who would have thought you could have so much fun subjecting an entire people to such torment and suffering. Thanks for sharing.
sworm

empiresand: lighten up. they’re just doing their jobs and they have no choice in the matter.
Downpressor

B”H this was darn funny!

@#34 Joe in Australia

I love you in a non gay way
Joe in Australia

Hi, Vania! I thought your video was funny. I’m sorry so many people here lack a sense of humor. Lehitraot!
Sleepy

Empiresand: Being under the constant threat of total annihilation by countries surrounding you who repeatedly pledge to wipe you off the face of the planet isn’t very funny either.
sisterbeer

Every human being has a choice between killing and not killing.

There is nothing funny about the Israeli occupation.
Anonymous

Awesome. Good to see these kids having some fun. They have serious work but life is not all work. Humor has sustained our people for 5 Thousand years. God bless Israel! Haters,you know where to put it!
Shay

Oh man, that was a good one.

You need to remember, the army for Israelis is the equivalent of college for Americans. It’s 18-21 year olds doing a lot of nonsense with the occasional bout of responsibility. Unsurprisingly, youtube is filled with a lot of idiocy taking place in the IDF.

por exemplo:
Using a condom as a helmet, crushing a coke can with his back, I don’t even know what this is…

(BTW, I had several openly gay friends in the service, we don’t have that “don’t ask don’t tell” nonsense)
Anonymous

Hilarious Video!

Damn, sometimes, despite it all, You gotta Smile- these guys are awesome!
idangazit

C’mon, folks. Seriously? Seriously going to turn a video of people chanting “what what? in the butt!” into a political discussion?

Regardless of what the IDF is or isn’t, these are 18-to-21-year-olds on a mandatory 3-year stint in the army. The army is like PRISON. The terminology used in hebrew to describe your army service is the same used to describe a PRISON term.

Nothing excuses terrorism or IDF soldiers shooting babies and pregnant women — but perhaps, somewhere in the three years of PRISON some of the inmates decided to do something funny to pass the time, having nothing at all to do with their army service.

I’d be terribly interested to see a video which provided a peek into the real life of a Hezballah soldier, even though these people shoot missles at my people. I’d be interested because gives me a look inside that I just couldn’t get from mainstream media — and y’know, a little more information, even “background” information with no direct relevance to the conflict, is better than sitting in a rut typing endless platitudes about worn-out arguments.

AGAIN.
Anonymous

Right, Sleepy, and Israel is the only nation in the Middle East with nuclear weapons. Oh yeah, sure, they’re under “threat.”
kaelsleeps

I, like many others, had to let go of my immediate reflexive thoughts regarding Israel and armies and whatnot, but once i did, this video was freakin awesome. Very laughter and happy.
Tweeker

“Every human being has a choice between killing and not killing.”

Yes. On the battlefield this choice is phrased as kill or be killed.

Its a nasty racket.
wilberfan

I don’t get it. It’s a *terrible* song, and the Israeli Army video version isn’t funny…
se7a7n7

I’m sure someone else appreciates the subtle irony of the Israeli soldiers hanging out in under a Jagermeister banner…
MarkM

I’d like to see the companion piece to this,
a Hamas or Hezbollah video. altho, in that one,
they’d probably feel the need to wear masks and
wave RPGs/AK-47s around, which kinda ruins the
mood.
Wovixo

Oh man, that’s pretty damn funny.

I suppose if you’re forced into service, you’re gonna spend some time doing goofy shit instead of doing what you’re supposed to.

Do I smell a flamewar in the offing?
13strong

Ooh, I almost missed the start of “Online Argument About Israel/Palestine # 28,566,459″.

Wouldn’t have wanted to miss this. We might actually resolve the issue, this time.
Anonymous

it’s really the real face of the daily life in those watch point between israel and the west bank… a boring daily rutine- cute 18-21′s who was raised a born just like you, doing their army duty and like to joke around…
wai till their commandors will see that:-) so no under the army regulations…
the_boy

shitstorm in…oh, wait, it already happened? thanks, internets.

I thought this was amazing, in a similar vein as the photos of Israeli women in uniform featured on this blog a while ago. Like everything involving the Israeli military, it is inherently ripe for lots and lots and lots of commentary. So, everyone else, go ahead and do that. I liked some silly guys with a rough job having fun with a hilarious song. Made me smile.
Takuan

http://asherah.buzznet.com/user/journal/3486641/shministim-aka-israelis-army-objectors/
Anonymous

Good ol’ army days.

hilarious piece, great comic relief from the realities of conflict for the guys in service and to anyone else in fact. too bad some of the people who posted comments simply don’t have the capacity to explore the human dimension of reality.
Avram / Moderator

Having a big angry argument about Israel and Palestine in a thread about the politics involved would probably be inevitable.

Having that same argument in a thread about “What What (In the Butt)” is just sad and pathetic. It implies that the arguers are literally incapable of having any response to any mention of Israel or Palestinians except to reflexively spout their pre-composed political responses, like Pavlov’s dog drooling at the sound of a bell.

When you give in to this impulse, you are reducing yourself to the level of a political spambot.
- http://www.xeni.net Xeni Jardin
  
  I said, what what?
Brother Provisional

I for one take it as a good sign that the Israeli army has a lot of free time on its hands. I hope that they continue to have the time to sit around drinking JÃ¤eger and watching Youtube.
Anonymous

Problem is there that every one is looking to america to solve the problem, while america is a problem creater, if the world will be problem free who will buy american arms, nobody can refuse that israel was created illegaly by americans for their intrest, once u put in a corner of americans intrest and talk with palestinian and arab nieghbour with open mind and heart, then problem can be solve, otherwise israeli will use to kill palestinian and palestinian will use to kill israelies, and the fact is that israel dont have any moral right to accupy others terrotery, they should undestand they have to live with arab so they have more duty to be flexible and show it to world, otherwise day will come soon when nobody can save u, when arab ruler will understand the feelings of his national, so use this time and save urself Mr, Israel
IamInnocent

“We might actually resolve the issue, this time.”

“In the butt!”

LOL
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Let me get this straight. Soldiers are offering anal sex. And you want to talk politics? I guess it could be worse. There could be a grammar critique.
Pantograph

It’s a defense mechanism. If you don’t villify these people, whether they be IDF of Hezbollah, the next step is the realization that atrocities are being committed not by fanatical monsters but by nice people like you and me. We can’t have that now can we?
rapemyskull

i thought those bankers were pretty funny.
Maggie Koerth-Baker

Xeni: “I said, what what?”

Oh, shit, I forgot what’s supposed to come next.
IamInnocent

@ Rebdav

For once something new!

I’m listening! I am not convinced but I am listening. I have a bit of a hard time to explain how the West is propping the Hamas or the Hezbolah or the democratically Israeli government though.
Can you clear it up for me?
As Antinous put it, there is a racist sub-text in the Western actions but can it be the explanation?

J.
JeffreyAtW

Most Israeli soldiers are serving two or three mandatory years of service. They are often in uniform, and on their bases.

Declaring that they are not allowed to have fun while in uniform is just silly.
bangpound

The video is an attempt to make us see the Israeli occupation forces as something other than a brutally violent illegitimate military presence that has been accused of serious war crimes in Gaza by respected international, Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations. These charges still haven’t been answered in a court of law.

Maybe if someone made a film that humanizes the bored Israeli soldier and describes his various leisure activities, I might have a very good answer for “what what.”
jabalalsheikh

You know why this isn’t funny? Because it’s immature kids in the Israeli army like these who control the movement of an entire population at the hundreds of Israeli checkpoints throughout the occupied West Bank. Imagine: one of these kids gets to determine whether a pregnant woman gets to deliver her baby at a hospital or whether a student can get to his university. Never mind Gaza; Palestinians there aren’t able to leave their open-air prison.
IamInnocent

A few remarks, or maybe are they questions?

Yes, questions?

What would happen if a bunch of American soldiers made a video about gay sex in the military?

What are the reactions of the top brass? At the very least this must set some rabbis’ butts on fire, no?
wonderphile

I am extremely offended by the gratuitous cigarette smoking in this video.
Takuan

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3292414,00.html
x3n0s

I’ve got this hilarious video of some Nazis goofing off. Maybe boingboing can post it?
Takuan

http://www.palmcenter.org/press/dadt/releases/new_book_on_gays_in_israeli_military_has_become_a_besteller_study_examines_war_on_terror_through_eyes_of_gay
Takuan

http://gaymiddleeast.blogspot.com/2006/08/sad-state-for-gay-palestinians.html
mstoddard

KnÃ¤ckebrÃ¶ddansen!!!!!
J France

@20 Antinous: That was my first thought.

@13 13Strong: And second

and third:

sweden must have a pretty advanced culture

Sort of, but it’s more the comparison is just backwards.
rob1000

Lots of kids have refused to join the IDF:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusal_to_serve_in_the_Israeli_military
Paul Dreyer

Technically, it is the Swedish version of America’s/Britain’s Got Talent. Brilliant. The knackerbread video more than makes up for any other comments on this thread.

What what!
nehpetsE

This video has much better production values than the one OUR boys made of throwing the puppy over the cliff.
Joe in Australia

Q: How many Israelis does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: That’s not funny.

Q: Sorry, what?

A: They’re brutally repressing an entire population and that’s not funny.

Q: Just say, “How many?”

A: There is nothing funny about the Israeli occupation.

Q: So this rabbi walks past a restaurant -

A: Was the rabbi Israeli? Because if so, it’s not funny.
Anonymous

If a buncha kids in the U.S. military made this video, they’d get kicked out for violating “don’t ask don’t tell.” We suck.
Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4pXY82sNjg
desprez

Joe in Australia = Win.

That said, it’s impossible to take a side in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Both sides seem to be justified and wrong and the same time. It needn’t have been this way.
coaxial

@sleepy#5

You mean the nuclear power, that has routinely invaded and occupied the surrounding countries? Oh yeah. Poor Israel. They’re sooooooooo weak with their advanced weapons. I mean they can just barely bullseye that teenager wielding the rock that used be part of his house from over the horizon in the middle of the night, while simultaneously machine gunning an ambulance.

Don’t even start about those recent rocket attacks. They were wildly inaccurate and ineffective. The vast majority of the Israelis killed were soldiers, and oh yeah, Palestinians died literally 100 for ever 1 Israeli. There’s a term for that. It’s called “collective punishment.”

@iaminnocent

Don’t ask. Don’t tell.
Jack Daniel

The fact that some of you blindly refuse to even consider the humor in this video gives me little hope for peace.
Xeni Jardin

Oh, alright, FINE. Nobody wants to answer, and Maggie’s forgotten. Well here it is: IN THE BUTT.
Anonymous

this video is so so so funny!
you guys are the best!!
rebdav

IamInnocent, sorry was at work all day, hope you do not miss this.

The whole middle east is built on the old Ottoman Turk empire. The borders were set by the British and the French. Dictators and kings were installed by those two colonial powers after WW-1. The USA reset many of these dictators including Arabia after WW-2. This is how Arabia became owned by the Saudi family, the only tribe wild enough to join up with the Americans and kick out the Hashemite family which was gifted with 80% of the British controlled League of Nations protective mandate zone called Palestine as a consolation prize, formerly a southern region of Syria.

Everyone wants the Oil here and all nations in the area are either producers, slave level labor centers, or carrots and sticks to goad oil producers. Israel is also used as a antisemitic distraction by most regional dictators every time the population gets annoyed by their wholesale theft and laundering of the national treasures. Of course a good regional war also works to distract Israeli, Arab, and even western nations if there is some sort of scandal. Sadly we are all banana republics here, but then I grew up and realized the US and UK had also slipped into that category. In our region democracy has been “managed” to the point of oblivion mostly by the US but also by internal forces. Part of the solution is to remove western influence, but you still have those installed dictators and oligarchy which would be very difficult to remove.
Anonymous

great sence of humor. loved it!