Comedian Jon Stewart used his monologue on Monday night’s episode of the Daily Show to criticize Israel’s handling of the recent Hamas attack.
He also took a jab at the Biden administration, suggesting they haven’t taken sufficient action to address what he characterized as a five-month-long bombing campaign.
The latest episode marked Stewart’s third appearance since coming back from a long break to host on a weekly basis, airing on Monday nights.
Stewart mocked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for postwar Gaza: “So your peace plan is a siege?” He claimed, falsely, that Netanyahu was trying to end the “idea” of Hamas, likening it to George W. Bush’s “mission accomplished” in Iraq.
(The Israeli leader has said that he wants to end Hamas’s military and governing capacity, not to eliminate the “idea” of Hamas.)
Stewart asserted that Israel aimed to “destroy” Gaza: “Your plan to eliminate Hamas by destroying all of Gaza… doesn’t that just make more Hamases?” he joked.
The crowd responded with laughter and applause as Stewart called for an immediate end to the war. He also drew an implicit parallel between Russia’s unprovoked bombing of Ukraine and Israel’s strikes on Hamas in Gaza.
While acknowledging that there was no “diplomatic leeway in the Hamas position,” he criticized the perceived lack of aid to Gaza. Following that, he took a swipe at Christian pastor John Hagee, a prominent supporter of Israel within the evangelical movement.
A “safe and free Israel” and a “safe and free Palestine,” Stewart said, required each side to accept the presence of the other — a point that the vast majority of Israelis have already accepted, but which large portions of Palestinian society evidently have not.
Stewart proposed a “solution” that involves Israel halting its conflict with Hamas, the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the collaboration of Arab nations in the region to establish a regional “NATO” aimed at ensuring security for both sides in the conflict.
Today, almost two-thirds of Israelis are against a two-state solution, marking a significant shift from a decade ago when nearly two-thirds supported it.
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