As college campuses continue to descend into chaos, Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza and Jewish comedian Alex Edelman were having a calm conversation at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC during the annual Time 100 event for the tear’s most influential names.
A spy tells us they saw Edelman — who wrote and starred in the hit Broadway comedy show about anti-semitism, “Just For Us” — approach Azaiza at the gala dinner between courses.
“It was about a five minute chat,” said a spy who noted that while the duo come from different backgrounds, “it seemed to be in the spirit of productivity. They were having a dialogue.”
The pair also took a picture together at the request of a photog roaming the event.
Earlier in the evening, Edelman, who grew up Modern Orthodox and attended yeshiva in Israel for a year, told Page Six that amid all celebrities in attendance — from Dua Lipa to Kylie Minogue — he wanted to meet Azaiza.
He said he’d never heard Azaiza speak, but Edelman explained, “My show is about conversations between people who don’t see eye to eye in pursuit of a productive dialogue.”
He noted that he tends to keep his opinions on such a “difficult things largely to myself,” but is open to conversation.
“I want to have a substantive conversation — and what’s more substantive than a conversation with someone like that in a time like this?” he said.
When it comes to the war, campus protests and Israeli hostages, Edelman says he is remaining hopeful.
“For my many many failings, I’m an optimist always — and I believe in human ingenuity that can pull us out of this horrific spiral that we’re in,” he said. “I’d like to believe that people will figure it out, but obviously that requires lots of action and lots of discipline and that’s going to require some dialog. So yeah, I have some hope. It looks pretty grim, but I’m always an optimist.”
Azaiza, who grew up in Deir al-Balah Camp in Gaza, did not stop for our reporter on the carpet and declined to be interviewed at the party, where he seemed to be getting a respite from talking about the war.
He was spotted taking a video of a performance by “American Idol” alum Fantasia Barrino.
Both Edelman and Azaiza made the Time 100 list this year.
Also at the event, which featured several songs from Dua Lipa, were Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, Maya Rudolph and Michael J. Fox, who got a standing ovation from the crowd for his work to help cure Parkinson’s Disease.
