Comedian Sasha Baron-Cohen, also known as Ali G and Borat, successfully made fools of ex-Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and an Arab representative in a mock-interview for an upcoming film. Alpher himself reported the event in a relatively good-humored column in The Forward.
Alpher thought he was being interviewed for "a documentary that would explain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the youth of the world." Cohen appeared as the interviewer, "a tall, blondish man in his thirties, dressed in leather and studs, his face heavily powdered, his arms and chest shaven" with a heavy German accent and "ultra-gay" mannerisms.
Cohen confused "Hamas" with "hummous" for a gag but the interviewees did not realize they were being had. Then, according to Alpher, "the interviewer declared: 'Your conflict is not so bad. Jennifer-Angelina is worse.'" He went on to ask: "'Vy don’t you Jews and Arabs settle the conflict with a time share on the land?'; 'Ven vill you Jews return the pyramids?' and 'Vy can’t Jews and Hindus get along?'" Alpher wrote: "We knew something ludicrous was happening but couldn’t quite figure it out."