Sammy Obeid saga in Singapore has come to an end after he failed to comply with the POFMA order and the social platforms were instructed by the authorities to display it to all local readers of his posts, explaining that his show was not censored but denied a license because the application was filed extremely late.
The really "comical" thing about the whole situation is that in his both arrogant and ignorant whining about the alleged censorship he has actually damaged the interests of the Palestinian cause in Singapore – and the image of its local supporters.
As I observed in an earlier Facebook post the guy who just loves to bill himself as a mathematician-turned-comedian is so bad with numbers that he was clearly struggling to grasp that the application process requires at least 40 working days before the show – as is clearly stated on the website.
(With this sort of undisciplined approach it's no wonder he has to make a living going around telling jokes.)
Now, as a foreigner you may think it's a silly rule, excessive, bureaucratic, unnecessary – whatever – but the nature of the regulations in each country is that you follow what they say when you're there. If you disagree with them, don't come.
But if you do and break them because you couldn't be bothered to read, then don't go around crying about oppression.
Ignorantia iuris nocet.
Stereotypical Palestinian
The only accomplishment of the Lebanese-Palestinian-Syrian-Italian-American, as he describes himself (I dare not speculate about the origins of the Middle Eastern part of his heritage, given the brutal events involving all three nations just around the time he was conceived), is a rather entertaining confirmation of the stereotypes about Palestinians.
He broke the rules, started a fight, was beaten back and ended up crying about being a victim. Doesn't that sound familiar?
All he had to do is behave in a civilised manner and do what hundreds of other international performers are quite capable of doing each year – file the application on time.
If Palestinians were able to behave in a civilised way, they would have had their own state 80 years ago. Instead, just like Obeid, they started a fight they couldn't win.
What's crucial in his case is that he did not contest the timeline of events laid out by the IMDA. It detailed that the comedian's assistant only reached out to the authorities on July 8 and was informed the next day that he needs a local representative to file the application. Even if he did it instantly it would still be late, as 40 working days translate to about 8 weeks or 2 months, and his show was scheduled for August 31.
Is that how you plan an international tour?
While IMDA does occasionally approve late submissions, Obeid's local agents sent it only on August 15 – just 10 working days before the event, when the authorities state that the process takes a minimum of 20.
Since neither he nor anybody from his entourage denied that was the case, nor provided any documentation that would prove otherwise – which should be easy to do, as it has to be sent via email, which would carry exact dates – it's clear that they didn't follow the rules.
Since he has no evidence in his defence, it doesn't matter how Obeid wants to excuse himself or whom he wants to blame for the failure.
Not that he would ever accept responsibility, just like neither Palestinians nor their supporters ever do.
For most people in Singapore the war in Gaza is a distant, seemingly endless conflict without a solution in sight.
That said, the pro-Palestinian propaganda filling the internet and the media may have generated some sympathy for the people who started its another brutal chapter by butchering 1200 innocent Israelis, kidnapping hundreds and still starving a dozen or more in the tunnels built by Hamas from materials provided for civilian use.
But now Singaporeans themselves have had a taste of how the Palestinian camp behaves – not against Israel and the Jews, but against their very own country.
The manipulation, the baseless attacks, the twisting of the narrative to push blame on someone else for your own fuck-up. See? This is what Israel has to put up with daily.
Local supporters of the Palestinian cause might be blindly cheering for Obeid, but as they do it only creates a deeper divide between them and the normal, sane Singaporeans.
You don't take sides with a foreigner against your own country when it's clear from the evidence (or lack thereof) that he is wrong.
An entitled, obnoxious part-Palestinian Arab-American failed to follow the rules and then threw a tantrum blaming the authorities for some imaginary oppression, when all he had to do was basic homework.
Perhaps if he did it in school more often he wouldn't have to make a living touring the world cracking jokes in defence of some of the most vile people in existence.
