Jon Stewart took the Biden administration to task over how it deals with Israel, pointing out the stark contrast between the U.S. government response to the Ukraine-Russia conflict and that over the war in Gaza.
On Monday’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart took a “wellness check” on the war on Gaza, adding that “as the war has grinded on, justice is beginning to look like cruelty.”
In a segment the Daily Show has dubbed “The Futile Crescent”, the host looked at the Biden administration’s recent determination to uphold a rules-based order inherent to the U.S.’s “universal values” — but only in relation to the Ukraine conflict. Using clips of President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Stewart focused on their robust condemnation of Russian aggression against Ukraine, and in particular, their comments about Russian attempts to target and suppress the free press and weaponize food shortages against Ukrainians, the latter policy Blinken has described as “unconscionable.”
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“Weaponizing food in Ukraine is not kosher nor halal,” Stewart joked. “Sorry if I’m both side-sing this. Speaking of which, there is a literal famine in Gaza caused by the war. I assume America will also consider this unconscionable?”
“I think you all know what’s coming next,” said Stewart as he presaged a succession of clips featuring Biden administration officials John Kirby and Karine Jean-Pierre deflecting questions or expressing only “concern” about Israel’s push to suppress and target the press in Gaza. “More journalists have been killed in Gaza in six months than anywhere else in the world, and a new Israeli law says they can ban media outlets they consider a threat,” Stewart said as he cut away to another clip of Jean-Pierre expressing more “concern” over reports Israel was looking to ban news network Al Jazeera.
Instead of concern, Stewart suggested that if the reports over Al Jazeera were true, then the U.S. should say “we condemn it.” He then moved on to the issue of recent land seizures, describing the “bedrock rule of international law” as being “no taking of land.” “When Russia does it, we’re pretty clear,” he said, cutting away to forthright recent comments from Biden: “The entire world has a stake in making sure that no nation, no aggressor is allowed to take a neighbor’s territory by force. The American people will never waver in our commitment to those values.”
“See, this is where Israel’s actions get interesting. Because you might say, Israel’s war is different [from] Ukraine’s, Israel is responding to an attack and hostage crisis,” Stewart said seeking to clarify the respective conflicts. “But in the midst of that, they pulled a little something in the West Bank on March 22 that might be notable,” he added, alluding to the Israeli government’s appropriation of 2,000 acres of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank on the same day Blinken was in Israel for talks.
“That’s not even Gaza. That’s the West Bank,” Stewart said. “So you can’t say this has anything to do with defending yourself against Hamas. Let’s see if America upholds its rule against taking land.” There then followed a clip of Blinken trying and failing to deflect a question over the land seizure.
“Why do we tiptoe around on eggshells?,” an exasperated Stewart exclaimed. “[Israel slaps] America in the face and our response is: ‘Well, if anyone slapped us in the face, it’d be concerning, that’s for sure. I mean, raising a hand to a delicate body part of the face, if true.’ 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 yarghhhhh!”
Stewart continued, “Every time America tells the world that there’s something we won’t allow, Israel seems to say challenge accepted. Are they willfully trying to provoke us?”
After reiterating the death toll in Gaza, and seemingly no change or softening in Israel’s prosecution of its war, despite Biden administration pushing for more “precision” in military strikes, Stewart asked: “What the fuck are we doing here?”
“The subtext of all this is America knows this is wrong. But apparently, it doesn’t seem to have the courage to say it in a straightforward manner,” he added.
