SEINFELD IN ISRAEL

Seinfeld hopes 'Bee Movie' will sting terrorists (JPOST)
He's taken on the Soup Nazi, an annoying Chinese maitre d' and even an uncooperative puffy shirt, so when comedian Jerry Seinfeld faced the Israeli media Sunday in Tel Aviv, he was ready - ready with some one-liners and even a promise that the man from the show about nothing could perhaps even do something about terrorism.

In Israel to promote his new Bee-Movie, Seinfeld - who worked in a kibbutz banana field when he was last seen in these parts - explained that while "I don't think I can do much about terrorists, a successful movie by [Steven] Spielberg, [Jeffrey] Katzenberg and Seinfeld is annoying to terrorists. If we can't stop them, we can annoy them."

While he once could be ignored in Israel, the comedian said he'd now become family. "Today, out shopping, people looked at me as a son," adding that while he was recognized everywhere he goes, in Israel he felt a special warmth.

"When I was 15 and worked in a kibbutz, no one was interested in meeting me," he recalled. "No one wanted my autograph or to be photographed with me. They just let me hack away at the banana leaves."

He said he found Israel to be "a more mature country" this time. "It was more nervous then. Now I feel it's more permanent. It's forever. I think things will improve."

Asked if he had any funny experiences while in Israel, Seinfeld said: "I met Olmert. That was funny." "I loved meeting the prime minister and President Peres and [visiting] Masada and Yad Vashem and the Golan Heights an the Galilee," but mostly he loved meeting the Israeli people, he said.

Thanking everyone for coming to the press conference as it began, the comic said it was good to see them, magnificent to be back after 37 years, and joked: "That's it. See you later."