Jim Meets The Israeli Ambassador | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats
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- čas přidán 25. 11. 2021
- Jim meets with the Israeli ambassador after the Foreign Office ignore his advice on a pro-Israel line and receives worrying news concerning St. George’s Island.
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#Comedy #YesPrimeMinister - Komedie
“Press statements aren’t delivered under oath” that line is gold lmao
I thought that was a great line. Definitely one Bojo should use in the coming days! 🤣
@@zx7-rr486 And you believe Bojo will tell the truth, even under oath?
Not by this gov anyway lol
increasingly so it would appear
So very true
I like the follow up:
Bernard “Prime minister the Americans are delighted, they have a whole battalion ready if we need reinforcements!”
Humphrey “Reinforcements of what?!”
Jim: “Reinforcements, of good will.”
"The Americans invading a Commonwealth country? The Palace will hit the roof."
This episode was broadcast shortly after the Americans DID invade the Commonwealth country of Grenada. Rumour has it the Palace DID hit the roof.
LOL
also the capitale of Grenada is St George's so you could argue the Americans did invade St George's island
@@fredrikkirderf2907
Shows you just how good the writers were.
@@fredrikkirderf2907
Slick!
And I shall look ridiculous😅
Easily my favourite scene from Yes Prime Minister.
"No, it's just an awful lot of good will."
How on earth do you choose one scene out of so many excellent ones?
@@seamusoflatcap they once tried to upload "best bits of season 1" but then stopped because uploading entire season seemed a bit excesive.
@@JM-mh1pp Hahaha, just do it anyway. Love it
A very Jewish response!- which you'd expect from an Israeli Ambassador. Even better is Jim telling Luke he's being sent to Tel Aviv-s he can explain why Britain never supports Israel at the Security Council
@@seamusoflatcap my thoughts exactly
i have too many favourites !
Humphrey- I believe an airborne battalion is in the air.
Hacker- Seems like the right place for it!
😆
You beat me to it!!
Love the exchange with Humphrey right after this scene.
"Prime Minister, I gather there's an airborne batallion in the air"
"Sounds like the right place for it"
Israeli Ambassador: "They don't trust you."
Jim: "Why not?"
IA: "Because you trust the Foreign Office."
Jim: "fair, tbh"
I love this episode because it's one of the few times that Hacker pulls a legitimate victory that's for good and unselfish.
Under that exact criteria, I think it's the only time.
It's what makes it my favorite too.
Its the good and right choice, but he still does it for selfish reasons. He wants to look strong to the Americans and he wants to punish Luke for disobeying his orders.
Is there any way one can watch the actual episodes online as a non brit?
@@Slaaan dailymotion website
@@SlaaanIf you're American, the streaming service is called "BritBox." You get this, Keeping Up Appearances, and if you care, Classic Doctor Who!
Finally this scene is back on again! Nothing will beat this exchange from not knowing exactly where the island is to 'reinforcements of goodwill'.
Sly fox says , atlast some sense !
I loved that episode and the actor who played the Israeli Ambassador did an excellent job of his role.
That actor is David de Kuyser. Me and my friends always referred to him as "The Voice" , because he did so many overdubs on foreign programs in the Sixties and Seventies.
@@fifthof1795 Thanks for the heads up. David certainly appeared in a variety of different roles.
@@garyquinlan4075 No probs. He also did the overdub on Tracy's (Diana Rigg) crime boss dad in OHMSS.
His voice is amazing
I know.
1:24 A line for Bernard, if he'd been present:
"The Palace can't exactly hit the roof, Minister; you see the roof is itself part of the Palace, so it would only itself move upwards if the Palace were to try to ...."
Minister: "Not now, Bernard!"
This is one of my favorite episodes, and one of my favorite scenes. The reason is that, if this show had a flaw in how it portrayed how the bureaucracy is able to control policy while pretending only to execute it, it was that it tended to neglect how the most powerful weapon in the bureaucracy's arsenal is its ability to control the flow of information to the elected politicians. The reason for that is that that does not usually make for good television. Instead, they would usually show Humphrey persuading Hacker why Hacker's preferred policy would be unpopular or would be bad public relations. Here, they really showed how it was about controlling the information that gets to the politicians, and how Hacker could get his way when he gets an alternate avenue of information.
Thank you, Sir Humphey's apprentice. Beautifully enunciated.
@@brucewilliams8714 Thank you! That's such a nice thing to say. You're too kind.
More often than not Humphrey’s attempts to control the information that reaches Jim are very carefully undermined by Bernard, who has (or at least believes he has) much more to gain personally from allowing Jim to get his way every so often.
@@CHR1SZ7 It's established that Bernard still believes in elected leaders making decisions.
Well said
"Who knows Foreign Office secrets apart from the Foreign Office?"
"That's easy, only the Kremlin."
Bernard forgot Tel Aviv as well. Considering that the role of the diplomat is to gather information, I often wondered if a wily head of state, if he did not trust his own ministers, could nicely ask the ambassador for a copy of their data instead.
"I often wondered if a wily head of state, if he did not trust his own ministers, could nicely ask the ambassador for a copy of their data instead."
Only if he wants to owe a foreign entity an awful lot of favors and goodwill. And makes sure nobody in his government trusts him again. But yes, the temptation surely must exist. However, I think it will be done very subtly, if at all.
“How do you know?!”
“I know …”
Brilliant delivery, I’m always immediately transported to a line by Livia in I, Claudius, “ I know, well, I make it my business to know.” Must be a wonderful feeling being able to say sth. like that in a meaningful way.
Can confirm, it is. Addicting in fact
@@StarboyXL9 okay you eminence grisé lmao
"...I know..." - left unspoken 'please do not ask me how I know... I might have to have you killed'.
If you have the Mossad on your side, you always know.
Sth? Whats that mean.
I love this "I know" in 1:43
The way he says “I know” is perfect.
"Don't ask me how the Mossad gets its information about Britain and I won't ask you how MI6 gets its information about Israel. We're friends, Jim, but don't push it." all boiled down to two words and a tone of voice.
"A awful lot of goodwill" - one of the many classic lines of this series!
Possibly the best British Comedy series of all time.Superb scripts and top class acting.
"Press statements aren't delivered under oath." That's for sure....
"..a surprise visit.. alright, a 'routine' surprise visit.."
Hacker has finally mastered the language of beauraucracy, and at the same time, is at complete ease speaking the politicians' language.
All-in-all, a real Prime Minister and dare I say, a leader.
The Israeli Ambassador comes as a breath of fresh air, for having remarkable clarity of thoughts and issues.
Perhaps he was advised how best to handle Hacker.
@@matthew8153 By telling him the whole truth? Because the British political class screwed up and actually elected a half decent human being to the PM's office?
@@hagamapama
Well a broken clock is right twice a day.
Scene right after this is one of my favorite. When Jim masterfully
"rewards" Luke by appointing him ambassador in Israel
Yup. The look on Luke's face when he is told he is being sent to Tel Aviv is priceless
I love it!
It’s even more significant in book form.
The actor who played Luke was excellent. I've always loved this episode because of the way he tells off Jim.
@@zingzangspillip1 The actor who plays Luke was in the first two series of The Crown at Netflix. I heard his voice and was puzzled for about a month "where did I hear that voice before?" and then it dawned on me, it was Luke!
-Prime minister, an airborne battalion is in the air.
-Well, isn't that where an airborne battalion should be Humphrey?
“Press statements are not delivered under oath”
The current government’s mantra
All governments' mantra...
@@edipires15 Childish view of the world. There is such a thing as a government that is a genuine democracy, genuine "people's rule". We just don't have them in this country because of our political and economic system. But they are possible. The "all politicians are liars" meme was started by lying politicians (and the businessmen who benefit from their lies and corruption" to lower your expectations and make you think that you aren't worthy of someone fighting your corner.
@@ulture I would say a realist view of the world. Governments, as much as their purposes may be genuine , lie to the press all the time, even in the best democracies. They have to in some way, as Sir Humphrey would say “for stability”
@@xunqianbaidu6917 from one who believes in the fairytale of 'human nature'
@@edipires15 Indeed - I feel like KTG's comment will remain popular whoever the government happens to be at time of reading!
Can't see this episode anymore on the BBC iPlayer. It offends certain sections of the UK's population
It’s available to watch on Dailymotion.
This 'documentary' never gets old!
@卐 Infidel 卍 Exactly, people mistake documentary for instruction video.
Something like this did happen in the Indian Ocean in 1988..
It was a coup against Maldivian government and India responded with "operation cactus" , a military support operation of Indian paratroopers to protect the Maldivian government..
4 minutes of screen time he proved himself as crafty as Sir Humphrey and as cunning as Sir Arnold
Also bringing him in was brilliance on Hacker's part. He knew he might actually get a whiff of the truth.
An instant goodwill visit. I will start using this phrase more and more in my life.
Instant routine goodwill visit haha
It would be nice if the Israeli Ambassador appeared in more episodes
How's your ouija board skills?
No need. Rabbis are all trained in necromancy, given how they keep reanimating past "sins" of every other group but their own!
How nice to see David de Keyser - I met him once at my parents house and he was charming
The actors are legends to have delivered these lines with a straight face, staying in character. I can never even deliver the same lines without laughing my head off. And it's been over 40 years. Timeless!
"Press statements aren't delivered under oath." Goddamnit this gets better with age and more relevant by the day!
"How do you know?!" " - ...I knooow!" Brilliant!
It's amazing how it's still so relevant...
Probably the best episode of YPM ever. Also contains Sir Humphrey and Sir Richard explaining foreign policy to Bernard
close competition to "The Key" when Humphrey tries to enter via a window and actually swears.
@@amazer747 Him bursting in Bernard a bit before that "My God." "No just your boss!"
the wonderful David de Keyser - that unmistakable voice!
"How do you know?"
"I KNOW..!"
I love this series :)
Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister THREE Brilliant Actors and Perfect Scripts. Amazingly accurate.
I miss these type of shows. So many laughs.
R.I.P. David, you actes like a true Israeli diplomat
Love the Israeli ambassador! Absolutely brilliant
The fine actor and voice artist David de Keyser. Yes (Prime) Minister was always very good at casting one-off roles; see for example Thomas Baptiste as the charming yet deadly President of Buranda.
me
ME TOO
@@vastariner John Wells as Godfrey in "The Ministerial Broadcast" was also brilliant. At one point he seems to break into a Boris Karloff imitation for a few seconds.
His smirk while Jim is getting on the phone... pure gold
RIP David de Keyser. He died in 2021, 93 years old.
Funny how we don't get to live equally long. He and Eddington were born in the same year, 1927, but he got to outlive Paul by 25 years. Fine actors, both of them.
Funny how the picture quality is better on here than on the DVD box set I actually paid for.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. The Boxset I got last year is about 360p quality.
Really should've also added the part with Humphrey and Luke after that. Those bits are also hilarious.
I seem to remember Margret Thatcher was a critic of the Foreign Office, referring to them as an 'Office for Foreigners'. I might be paraphrasing here. Fantastic series.....
Still relevant in December 2023:
"The UK is preparing to send a warship to Guyana in a show of diplomatic and military support for the former British colony, the BBC has learned.
It comes after neighbouring Venezuela renewed its claim for a disputed part of Guyanese territory that is rich in oil and minerals.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed HMS Trent would take part in joint exercises after Christmas."
Let's hope they bring lots of good will with them.
I just realized that even the Israeli ambassador didn't know how Jim uninformed was.
There has never been better comedy writing.
I wonder if humankind will be able to produce something so masterly on TV ever again...
Unfortunately, the current political and social climate prevents such shows from even being proposed.
No
Not a chance. But this masterpiece will never get old.
Neverrr!
Yes PM and Yes Minister should be compulsory viewing by all prospective MPs.
And it should be viewed as a ‘documentary’ rather than as entertainment…. although it is one of the all time entertainment series of all time.
Regards
Robert
( an ex-MP)
😎
You were an mp?
@@nathanielhill5887
13 years….2006-2019.
NSW Legislative Council ( ie., the State upper House). Member for the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party.
@@RobertBrown-lf8yq what was being an mp like?
@@nathanielhill5887
Worthwhile because I actually achieved some stuff for our constituents.
Parliament? Bastard of a job because one must deal with all types of absolute bastards, liars, cowards… and plain old ‘time-servers’.
Parliamentary employees ( not political staffers) were a great bunch of people.
Incredibly long hours, very diligent and skilled at their work.
Bureaucrats? 90% of them are EXACTLY like Sir Humphrey
🤣🤣🤣.
Difficult to get stuff done…being a ‘minority’ or ‘independent’, unless of course you just happen to hold the ‘balance of power’ in a hung Parliament.
I don’t regret my time…. but I’m bloody glad to be out of it.
Robert
"Press statements aren't delivered under oath." :D
The CZcams algorithm has a funny sense of humour
Northern Indian Ocean situation report. Hilarious!
The St George's Island storyline is a commentary on the then recent Grenada invasion?
The comparisons are pretty on the nose. The capital of Grenada is St George's and after the coup the Soviet Union and Cuba helped them build a new airport.
The only difference insofar as I can tell is the location and that it was a while before the American's actually landed troops (which was supported by neighbouring nations like Dominica, Barbados and Jamaica)
Very much so.
@@KCCOmug And the reference of 'palace would hit the roof' is on the fact that Grenada was not just a Commonwealth country, it was part of the Commonwealth realm i.e The Queen is the head of state.
Only at the time one US news station showed a map indicating that they had invaded Grenada in Spain!
Indeed and St George's being the Grenada capital it does rather point towards it.
Well, Hacker succeded where Thatcher failed, preventing the Americans from invading a Commonwealth nation.
what did the Americans invade during thatcher's time?
Unless you are referring to Argentinians as Americans?
@@irishpatriotv2575 Granada in the early 1980s. Not part of the UK, obviously, but a Commonwealth nation, under Queen Elizabeth.
Grenada actually, but my spellchecker is settled in Portuguese.
@@thiagodeandrade7081 never heard of it, i'll check out ye olde wikepedia
@@irishpatriotv2575 he’s quite correct
So much goodwill in this episode
one of the best of the series
One of my favorite scenes when the PM comes out on top! 😁
Such wonderfull material...
"press statements aren't given under oath"
oof little bit of real world foreshadowing.
The real world since the newspapers were invented. Read history :-) Nothing new about it
@@mavisemberson8737 yeah but the English gvmt has been taking a few liberties lately.
I like to think that the fact that Hacker is so pissed off at the Foreign office is the reason the Israeli ambassador is wanting to be so helpful to Hacker about St Georges.
1:35 you have a battalion on standby in Germany!
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
- I know!
Silly question! Mossad knows everything!!😂😂😂
He's saying, "Don't ask me how the Mossad knows so much about Britain and I won't ask you how MI6 knows so much about Israel."
@@jesseberg3271 MI6 knows a lot less about Israel than the other way around.
Seeing this scene nowadays
Absolutely brilliant
Perhaps my favorite TV show of all time.
☮
At last some pretty smart decision making on TRH Jim Hacker’ part.
Every episode of yes minister and yes prime minister makes the UK government look inept, useless and clueless. It is depressingly accurate.
@@ai-hb4et The problem with that approach is that a lot is based on real incidents in British history, with names switched. Getting drunk in a dry Islamic country? That happened, but in Pakistan. Commonwealth country getting invaded by Americans? That's Grenada.
@qtsssim The are indeed. Just seeing Bojo today saying he didn't realise he was at a party but thought it was a work event. That's a yes minister sketch right there.
All governments are bureaucratic monoliths. I think it's harsh to say "clueless and inept". The reality is politicians are fighting embedded inefficiencies, random events, public opinion (which is always split on every major issue) and the short term electoral political cycle. To be honest, I sometimes think it's a bloody miracle how well the country is actually run. You only have to travel around the world to see how pretty organised the UK is, even compared to other 1st world countries like the USA.
@@zx7-rr486 _I think it's harsh to say "clueless and inept"_
When the PM of a country says he doesn't know if he was at a party of a work event then I think clueless and inept is a compliment.
@@gdwnet Bojo is a buffoon
Press statements are not delivered under Oath!!
when political satire was an art form and not rude attack on people you do not agree with.
Your description is inaccurate. You wrote, " the Foreign Office ignore his advice on a pro-Israel line." But he was not instructing them to take a pro-Israel line. He was instructing them to take a neutral line by abstaining.
One of the great scenes in a series chock-a-block with great scenes.
The British used to do a lot of surprise good will visits
Who's have thought the shenanigans in "Yes Minister" would ever start to seem innocent in retrospect ?
Still a great series, even in repeats.
My most favourite scene from the story
Imagine the surprise on the faces of the airborne soldiers when they find out that instead of a relaxing time in Germany, they would be hoping on an airplane to a remote island in the middle of nowhere
A remote tropical island in the middle of nowhere. Probably a lot nicer weather than Germany.
@@ImperialJustinian
When I worked on a British Army base, they all regarded Germany as a comfortable posting but the dream location was Cyprus which they viewed as a kind of paradise.
Meanwhile, being sent to the Falklands is seen as a fate worse than death.
Airborne Forces are by design and purpose high readiness units, they are supposed to be hop on and drop off planes in the middle of nowhere.
@@ImperialJustinian And don't forget the field separation allowance. Nice tidy addition to their pay packets at the end of the month.
Paid leave in the middle of the Indian ocean, bliss.
I hv always loved this part...where is the Humphrey part ?
Who's playing the Israeli ambassador? He has a beautiful voice.
De Keyser. Passed away in 2021.
The best bit is when Humphrey finds out.
Absolutely loved watching him sulk because there's nothing he could do about it. Jim Hacker handed him a _fait accomplis_
excellent!
Wasn't the proposed invasion of St George's island by the Americans based on the (actual) US invasion of Grenada in 1983?
always remember: The Israeli ambassador always got more intel than the PM
Amazing voice
U have 2 comehere all i Will put fire my love...
Yesterday i came to my old school and picture me with my friends but it turns out all are my foes!.
I teapp te🙁🐩🤬🙄🏖️👍🦄🗺️🦄
What's in the fair ground my enemies? No, they all be gone and the fair ground then belongs to 2 person thats wooley and me .
Superb
(From another YPM episode....) "The Russians already know what we're doing"
Possibly the Israeli's Intelligence Service also are *particularly* well informed as well... 🤨.
One of my favourite episodes.
Same Episode, different scene I think.
I loved the episode in yes minister in similar vain
- Do russians know about it?
- Well you just learned about it right now, so they probably know this since monday.
I would like to see the whole thing..
The Israeli ambassador kind of sounds like the architect from the matrix reloaded.
He’s meant to have a Jewish accent but at that time it meant an accent from Golders Green to whoever wrote this. The Israeli accent is very different, but they were focused on a domestic audience.
In the book of yes minister Hacker is surprised at just how good the Ambassador's English is. Then he remembers the ambassador was british-but he an his parents emigrated to Israel just after it gained independence
This level of delishiousness 😂😂😂 *new shows just can’t do it like this 🤣
Back when BBC was worth watching...
We would struggle to raise an Airborne company these days never mind a division
Which episode is this? I thought I’d seen them all!
I think I'd like to see the rest of this episode to see what happened
Would it be even possible to make a show like this today?
Unlikely. You'd get too much heat and/or interference from the politicians.
@@pauls478 and we thought the cold war was as bad as it gets.
It may be possible to make such a show today. It comes down to getting a talented writing team with first-hand experience in politics. The movie "In the Loop" came close.
@@MartinOmander of course, The Thick of it and W1A, both had a similar vibe. But those are also in the distant past at this point. I feel old.
@@MonkeyspankO I hadn't heard of those two shows before. Thanks for the pointers, from a fellow "old" human!
Brilliant, goodwill visit..! 😅
Oh my
This is SO like reality.
Superb. If only we got all our intelligence from the Israelis.
Actually you do- Israel keeps a close eye on what happens to, and anything the Arab countries might do. That why they bombed a nuclear reactor Saddam Hussein built, years before anyone in Britain had ever heard of him. Its also why from time to time they bomb syria, doing the stuff neither Congress or the house of commons would do. Uts also why you see reports that israel might do the same to Iran if the need arises
Israel does a lot of the dirty work that Western powers would rather not do, yet are publicly repramanded for doing so !! I suspect behind closed doors it's a different story all together.
We all scratch each others backs in one way or another.
Didn't Trump get in a bit of trouble for revealing that some intelligence came from the Israelis?
@BigJohn Hansome oh, but they are! By furrowed brows at the UN general assembly.
I AGREE
David de Kuyser, king of the Sixties and Seventies overdubs !
How do you know?
I know
In all honesty, one hardly needs _Israeli intelligence_ to be able to find out information that Jim Hacker does not know. It's killing a fly with a sledgehammer.
8n the 80's at least everybody needed it. I SUSPECT THINGS HAVEN'T CHANGED MUCH.
Yeah, but this is Jim Hacker reaching out to someone who might be able to help figure out what in Sam Hill was going on. The mark of a real leader is that he's willing to get advice from the right people. In this case that was the Israeli ambassador.
Atlast some sense