The Israeli Palestinian Comedy tour is coming to Washington University in St. Louis on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in Brown 100 on the Washington University Campus. The event is sponsored by St Louis Hillel and MASA, and co-sponsored by Students for a Peaceful Palestinian Israeli Future (SPPIF), Wash. U. Students for Israel, Jewish Student Union, and Mama’s Pot Roast, a Washington University comedy improv troupe.

The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour is a controversial comedy group that aims to break taboos and use humor to fight anger, hatred and animosity.

The group’s appearance at Washington University is part of the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour’s first tour of the United States from Feb. 9 through Feb. 18.

The IPCT was launched in January 2007 to help bridge the growing animosity between Palestinians and Israelis, by co-founders Charley Warady, who lives in West Jerusalem in Israel, and Palestinian American Ray Hanania, whose family is from East Jerusalem.

Warady emigrated to Israel 15 years ago. Hanania has been a Palestinian journalist and also activist serving as the National President of the Palestinian American Congress (1995-96). Warady has performed comedy professionally, including before emigrating to Israel. Hanania launched his own comedy act after the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001 believing the comedy was the only way to deal with the increased hatred and anger he faced.

The tour group also includes veteran Second City performer and comedian Aaron Freeman, who is African-American and Jewish, and Israeli comedian Yisrael Campbell, who is an Orthodox (Haredi) Jew living in Israel.

The group’s web site is www.IPComedyTour.com.

The sponsor of the February Tour is MASA Israel Journeys.