On Radio 4 in June 2008 Frankie Boyle made a remark which would cost him dearly in terms of both Israeli and Jewish fans. He claimed that he had studied the Israeli army martial arts of Krav Maga. He then went on to present the listeners with “I’ve got an analogy which explains the whole thing quite well: if you imagine that Palestine is a cake – well, that cake is being punched to pieces by a very angry Jew”. This caused friction between the comedian and the BBC which further fuelled the fires by refusing to broadcast a humanitarian appeal for Gaza after Operation Cast Lead ending in January 2009.
The BBC has finally apologised for the remarks made by Boyle earlier this week for “any offence” it had caused only to be slammed by Boyle who called them cowards for doing so and for being scared to create any offence to minority groups. The comedian then went on to reiterate his comments about Israel as an apartheid state.
Jewish Chronicle: Frankie Boyle: Israel is apartheid, terrorist
Haaretz: U.K. comedian slams BBC over apology for anti-Israel skit
