Comedian Gad Elmaleh Praises Morocco-Israel Relations, Reflects on Immigrant Experience

"The normalization of relations [between Israel and Morocco], I am so proud of it. I am happy but not surprised!" said Gad Elmaleh in an interview with Valérie Abecassis for the magazine Culture on i24NEWS on the occasion of the tour of his new sixth one-man show titled "D’ailleurs" (Elsewhere), in France, Belgium and Switzerland. He says he is "enormously touched by the Abraham Accords" because he is "an Arabic speaker" and therefore "connected" to it.

During this interview, the comedian addressed several topics, including the issue of "living together" in France. "Living together must be a consequence of what we have learned when younger, to know and tolerate the other. But we are arriving today after all the problems and accidents, and we say ’come on, let’s do living together’. Well no, it’s too late," he believes. Regarding cultural and religious diversity within his audience, the Moroccan comedian explains: "I am not in ’fake’ things! Several languages speak in me, several identities. I talk about my religious identity, my nationality, everything is mixed. [...] I am not in a posture of peace, I am in it, I live it!"

Valérie Abécassis also questioned her guest on immigration, one of the themes of his show. Gad Elmaleh recalls his status as an immigrant upon his arrival in France: "I queued at the prefecture of the Île de la Cité to get a residence permit for days on end. They mangled my name and I was with the whole world, all the countries of Africa, the Middle East, Asia. It’s me who can talk about immigration in France, and it’s not a ’bobo’ who’s going to lecture me! [...] I prayed to have the right to work in France. At some point, it’s up to me to be critical of those who behave badly and those who don’t love France as I love it."