Sunday marked the six-month anniversary of Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. As such, Jon Stewart decided it was the perfect time for a quick “wellness check” on Gaza, and how America is responding to what has become an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
“As the war has grinded on, justice is beginning to seem more like cruelty,” said The Daily Show host on Monday. “But not to worry: America, the shining city on a hill, is on the case with our universal values.”
Unfortunately, as Stewart came to realize, those values seem to be rather inconsistent—especially when comparing Joe Biden and other lawmakers’ response to the war in Ukraine versus the war in Israel.
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When discussing the Ukraine-Russia war, the president was unequivocal in his stance that in any “battle for freedom… we need to be clear-eyed.” Biden was backed up by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called Russia’s weaponization of food in Ukraine “unconscionable”—a description Stewart agreed with, which brought him back to Israel.
“There is a literal famine in Gaza caused by the war,” said Stewart. “I assume America will also consider this unconscionable.” But, alas, not the case. When asked about the situation in Israel, national security communications adviser John Kirby could only confirm that America is indeed “concerned” about what’s happening. But left it at that.
“Well you can’t spell unconscionable without concern. At least part of it—the ‘con’ part,” Stewart offered.
When it came to attacks on the free press, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated their official position is that they “condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists.”
But Stewart had a feeling that those strong feelings might sound a little softer when it came to Gaza, where he explained “more journalists have been killed… in six months than anywhere else in the world. And a new Israeli law says they can ban media outlets they consider a threat,” which reportedly includes Al Jazeera. Jean-Pierre’s response? “If it’s true, it is concerning.”
“Oh, we’re concerned again,” replied Stewart, mockingly. “How about: ‘If it’s true, we condemn it’? And by the way, is it true? Feels like you could probably just call someone and just be like, ‘Is this true?’ And if they’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s true,’ you can be like, ‘That’s concerning. Not condemning, but concerning.’”
This same non-committal attitude seems to hold true when it comes to forcefully taking land that belongs to another country. Biden came in guns blazing when discussing Russia’s attempts to claim Ukraine territory, declaring that “the American people will never waver in our commitment to those values.”
“Ish,” replied Stewart.
“This is where Israel’s actions get interesting,” he continued. “Because you might say Israel’s war is different than Ukraine’s. Israel is responding to an attack and a hostage crisis. But in the midst of that, they pulled a little something in the West Bank on March 22 that might be notable.” And by that, he means that the Israeli government declared nearly 2,000 acres of land in the occupied West Bank as “state land.” Which would make it the largest land transfer since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.
While Blinken happened to be in Israel that day, he said he didn’t know enough about the details of the situation. But if it were true, it’s something “we would have a problem with.”
“You don’t know about it? They did it the day you fucking visited,” raged Stewart. “Why do we tiptoe around on eggshells? They slap America in the face and our response is, ‘Well, if anyone slapped us in the face it would be concerning, that’s for sure.’”
“The verbal gymnastics that the American government must undertake so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of a country we provide most of the weapons for is [insert incoherent scream],” said a clearly frustrated Stewart. “Every time America tells the world that there’s something we won’t allow, Israel seems to say, ‘Challenge accepted.’”
