From ‘Friends’ actor to vocal defender of Israel: Michael Rapaport’s New Yorker’s guide to advocacy

Before October 7, most Israelis recognized Michael Rapaport as Gary, the street-savvy, pigeon-shooting cop boyfriend of Phoebe on a handful of Friends Season 5 episodes.

But since October 7, the 54-year-old prototype “New Yawker” who has appeared in dozens of movies and TV series over his 35-year acting career has emerged as the aggressively profane, politically incorrect mouthpiece for supporters of Israel who feel the world has spun upside down on its axis by the onslaught of virulently anti-Israel, pro-Hamas sentiments emerging from talk shows, college campuses, and social media.

It wasn’t a role he was looking for, but one that he has embraced with verve and passion, humor and, yes, the aforementioned profanity (get ready to read a lot of redacted comments).  

It’s also a role that has led him to Israel for the first time, where he has spent six weeks since the war began, listening, learning, speaking, and further endearing himself to the Israeli public with two hilarious appearances on the country’s top satirical series, Eretz Nehederet.

“I was stunned by the reaction on October 8. The Hamas massacre was still going on, but there were people celebrating in New York. I’ll never forget the image of a woman wiping away mock tears as people protested against Hamas,” said Rapaport to The Jerusalem Post.

“That really invigorated me and triggered me, but I didn’t realize it was going to turn into this.”

He was referring to the dozens, if not hundreds, of gritty, stream-of-consciousness video postings he’s created since October 7, as well as producing his weekly podcasts and giving speeches at rallies in Washington, DC and in Tel Aviv.

“As long as there are question marks raised and accusations made about the victims of October 7, the rapes, the rationalizing of the attacks by Hamas, then I’m going to speak up. I will not, not say anything when the Jewish people are under siege. And we’re under siege,” said Rapaport.

“When people feel comfortable talking s*** about Jews and Israel, I feel that I need to articulate my feelings in a way that is as aggressive as possible … and that’s exactly what I do. October 7 just brought it all to a whole other level.”

RAPAPORT SPOKE with the The Jerusalem Post at the beginning of the month, sitting on a Manhattan corner, a few blocks away from the anti-Israel protest encampment at Columbia University.

On a lamppost next to him were posters showing the faces of some of the hostages being held in Gaza that had been torn down and ripped. Every couple of minutes, a passerby would recognize the highly visible  – and physically formidable  – Rapaport and offer a greeting and “Thanks” for his exhaustive efforts on social media on behalf of Israel since October 7.

“Thanks, man. How you doin’?” he would invariably answer in his New York street style of friendly tough guy.

“A lot of people in New York thank me for speaking out,” he acknowledged. “I appreciate it, but to be honest, I did not expect to be the loudest person in the room since October 7. I didn’t think that people would thank me for what I’m doing because I didn’t think there would be a need to thank a Michael Rapaport because there would be an army of voices like mine speaking out.”

Rapaport took his fellow Jewish entertainers to task for remaining mute, or worse, siding with the anti-Israel protesters. Aside from himself and a visit each by Jerry Seinfeld, Stranger Things actor Bret Gelman, and reggae rapper Matisyahu, there’s been very little public support for Israel in those circles, certainly not on the level of a Leonard Cohen heading to the front lines to entertain troops à la the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

“I think a lot of Jewish entertainers have their eyes on their careers. At the same time, they’ve been using their Judaism for profit all these years. They should be ashamed of themselves for making their Judaism part of their shtick that made them famous and have nothing to say when there are attacks on Jews and on Israel,” he said.

“They’re scared. Some of them believe what they believe, some are weak-minded, some misinformed, and others are self-hating Jews, so it’s a combination of factors. But the thing they should never lose sight of is, if they were in Israel on October 7, or if the fight comes to them, their silence or the watermelon posters would not save them. They’d be treated like all the other Jews.”

RAPAPORT HAS always been a proud Jew, but not a very involved one. Growing up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, he described himself as a “very classic New York lox and bagels Jew.”

“My brother went to Hebrew school, but I got kicked out,” he said.

During his many years as a public figure and entertainer, Rapaport never became a spokesman for the Jewish cause or was a vocal supporter of Israel. He recalled that one of the first times he engaged in public discourse was following the infamous Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally that took place in 2017.

“It wasn’t Trump’s remark about good people on both sides,” said Rapaport.

“It was the racists who said ‘Jews will not replace us.’ That triggered me and offended me in a way that I felt I needed to say something. And my response got a lot of attention, but I wasn’t thinking about getting attention or not, I was just …  ‘What the f*** are you talking about? Jews will not replace us?’

“I guess the other episode I spoke out about in a sort of aggressive way was the Kanye West antisemitism stuff. That was very offensive to me, too. And then, October 7 brought the whole thing about speaking out to a whole other level.”His constant activity on his Twitter feed, with nearly 690,000 followers, thrust him into the pro-Israel spotlight and landed him a slot at last November’s March for Israel on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

But amid all the hoopla, the posts, videos, TV appearances, and in-your-face attitude, Rapaport emphasized that he never loses sight of two reasons he’s undertaken such a big role.

“Columbia, the posters being torn down, the antisemitism, it’s all really a distraction to the two main agendas: the return of the hostages and the eradication of Hamas … and the Houthis and anybody else who’s against our existence. I always remind myself that it’s not about me or my feelings.

“Once those two items are taken care of, we can deal with the rest. The antisemites will be dealt with one way or another, not to worry.”

Rapaport’s Jewish roots

RAPAPORT TOUTS his father for instilling in him the latent pride in being Jewish that has come to define him.

“My father, who’s 90 years old now, grew up in New York City back when antisemitism was rampant.

“One lesson that he taught me when I was a kid was a story about a bunch of Irish kids who would come to his neighborhood and bully the Jewish kids. One day, my father who was 10 or 11, fought each one of them, this whole gang of kids. And they never came back. The lesson he instilled in me was ‘Don’t be a pussy Jew.’  And that doesn’t mean going around beating up people, but standing up for your rights.”

Another lesson Rapaport said his father taught him when he started acting was: “Don’t be a stereotype Jew.” With his fair hair and complexion and he-man physique, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Most people assumed I was Irish because of the way I looked and talked, but I always led with being Jewish. It’s who I am. But I understood what my dad was saying about Jewish stereotypes. I love Woody Allen, I’ve worked with him (Mighty Aphrodite,1995) and I love his work, but my father never liked that persona.

“I think it’s okay to have all the colors and shades – the neuroses, the stomach issues, and all the funny things we have, especially American Jews. But we have to balance it out.”

Perhaps in deference to his forbidding physical stature, Rapaport said he’s never had any antisemitic slurs directed at him, even as he’s become ubiquitous on social media.

“I’ve never had anybody in my face my whole life, and fortunately to this day, post-October 7, I still haven’t. But I keep my head on a swivel.”

That includes keeping his eyes wide open about what had been going down in his backyard with the stormy Columbia University protests and tent encampment aimed at Israel and its supporters. That protest, as well as the dozens of others that sprang up on campuses across the US in recent weeks, is deeply disturbing to Rapaport, and he’s reserved some of his most caustic online comments for the students who applaud Hamas while demonizing Israel.However, behind highlighting the absurdity of the situation lies a concern that the playing field in the American landscape has shifted forever.

“Hopefully, these protests will soon be behind us, and I’m glad they were dealt with the way they were dealt with, and the students will move on with their lives. But what worries me is that the precedent of anti-Jewishness and anti-Zionism that has been displayed will be even more impactful long-term on the morale of the country than January 6 was,” said Rapaport, referring to the riots and insurrection attempts in Washington, DC in 2021.

“Going forward, when the hostage issue is settled and the war is hopefully over, there will remain the stain of hesitancy toward the Jewish people. I’m only 54, so I wasn’t around in the ’40s and ’50s so I don’t know what it was like then, but I’m 100% sure things will never be the same for Jews in the US – all the steps and accomplishments that have been made will go back to zero, to minus zero even.

“It’s going to be ‘Oh, you’re Jewish? What kind of Jew are you, one of those genocide-supporting Jews, an apartheid Jew?’ When people see you with a Jewish star or find out you’re Israeli, you’ll never know what they’re really thinking. What the f*** man, it’s going to be pretty crazy.”

Rapaport’s ire is just getting going. His social media persona begins to meld with his calmer private self as he recalls seeing a banner on a Manhattan wall urging “Honor for the martyrs” of October 7 and raging about the double standard displayed toward Jews.

“Do you know that if there had been a sign like that in New York right after 9/11 saying ‘Honor the martyrs’, the ones who f***ing flew into the towers, that whoever put it up would have gotten the shit beaten out of them, no questions asked,” he said, his voice beginning to rise. “There would be no cops stopping them because the cops would be doing it, the firemen who lost their colleagues would be doing it, the families, and the innocent civilians who didn’t lose anybody. It would just be unacceptable.

“And it wouldn’t be acceptable to rip down posters of missing people in New York after 9/11, of any race. Nobody would think to rip them down. But we’re in a new era, and the rules of engagement toward antisemitism haven’t even been sorted out yet.”

SURPRISINGLY FOR someone who so militantly identifies with the Jewish people, or maybe not surprising for a “bagels and lox Jew,” Rapaport had never visited Israel before October 7. Since then, he’s arrived twice, for six weeks in total. And it’s been a life-changer, including the two appearances on Eretz Nehederet and a speech at one of the weekly Saturday rallies in Tel Aviv to bring the hostages home.

“My wife and I were planning to make our first visit to Israel in December 2023, and then when October 7 happened, we said ‘We’re not going.’ And then we said, ‘No wait, we’re definitely going! And as soon as possible,’ so that’s what we did,” said Rapaport, adding that he’s discovered a new world that he’s fallen in love with.

“I can just say that there’s a lust for life and an appreciation for life among the Israeli people that’s amazing,” he said. “Just like there’s something special about New Yorkers, there’s something special about Israelis.

“They’ve been so used to being f***ed with, terrorism, intifadas, soldiers being killed, their fight to exist and the need to explain their existence, it creates an incredible type of person. You don’t really understand it until you engage with them; and since October 7, I’ve been so fortunate to engage with so many of them,” he said.

“These two long trips I’ve been on have changed me as a Jew, as a New Yorker, and as a man. I can’t put my finger on it because it’s still happening right now. But one thing I know is that Israel will be a big part of my life going forward. I’m going to make up for lost time.”

Does that include the prospects of aliyah?

“I would love to do that, and I’m already looking forward to my next trip. I’m never not going to be coming to Israel, but me being in New York is like a polar bear in the f***ing snow,” he said diplomatically.

“But I just love the country. I’ve only scratched the surface, though. You can’t learn much in six weeks. I hit all the highlights, but I don’t know anything. But I’d love to figure out a way to live there too, and my wife would love it. We definitely want to make it a bigger part of our lives.”

One thing is for sure, he’d become a regular on Eretz Nehederet. The country went wild for his appearances on the satirical news show, in which he was featured in skits skewering the apathy of the American film industry at the Academy Awards in one; and in the “Hogwarts Code of Ethics,” taking on the surreal testimony about antisemitism on campus by the presidents of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT.

“I’m so proud I got to do those, and it was amazing working with the writers, staff, and crew of the show,” said Rapaport.“We did it so quickly, without rewrites or too much rethinking. The scripts were written, I showed up on set, I knocked them out, and I left. It was great timing and execution on their part, and I was just happy to be part of it.

“Jews invented sketch comedy, and we’re intrinsic to the humor that’s part of the vernacular of our everyday life today. For that to also happen in Israel and for those skits to be so darkly funny and spot-on is something I’m very proud of.”

Rapaport demurred when asked what his favorite role on TV or film has been, but he cited the heartfelt series Atypical, Life & Beth with Amy Schumer, and yes, his stint as Gary on Friends as being particularly enjoyable and satisfying.

“I’ve never really had a bad day of work in my 30-plus years as an actor. I’m extremely lucky and fortunate, and I never take it for granted. I can be a f***ing a** hole at times, but I appreciate what I get to do.”

Amid Rapaport’s high profile in defending Israel, there’s a price to pay. The week after this interview took place, two sold-out stand-up appearances he had scheduled in Madison, Wisconsin, were canceled by the venue amid threats by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

When asked if his career might suffer as a result of his activism, Rapaport thought about it and said, “The verdict is still out, but I hope not. I know that I haven’t done anything wrong. I know that standing up for Israel and the Jews is the right thing.

“Cancel culture, I don’t like it. But if you do certain things, then okay, you get what you deserve. But I haven’t done anything wrong. And I’m going to keep doing it.” 

JPost