Jon Stewart argues Netanyahu would have to 'bomb himself' for endangering Jewish people
With "Jewish Currents" editor-at-large Peter Beinart, Stewart reflected on how he is condemned by other Jewish people as a "bad Jew" for speaking out about the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Stewart said Jewish people often think of themselves as the underdog, but, "What happens when David becomes Goliath?"
He derided pro-Israeli commentators for denying the conflict is a genocide, arguing it is "purposeful starvation."
"I feel like a crazy person. I feel like I'm watching something that is so self-evidently inhumane and horrific," he added.
Stewart argued that the ongoing conflict is not only a moral hazard, but hazardous to the existence of Israel itself.
"And to be told that I have to shut up because I risk the Jewish state by speaking out? I would say the opposite," he said. "I think they're putting the likelihood of a surviving Jewish state much more at risk with this type of action."
"I think they're the ones that are being anti - if you want to define - [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, with that definition of antisemitism, would probably have to bomb himself," he added.
Beinart, for his part, claimed that Palestinians "behaved like Gandhi" by participating in "overwhelmingly non-violent" marches in Gaza seven years ago, alleging that the U.S. supports Israel shutting down peaceful protests.
"When they do non-violent boycotts, we criminalize the boycotts. When they go to the International Criminal Court, we sanction the International Criminal Court," he added, referencing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and President Donald Trump's sanctions against the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
Beinart appeared to insinuate Hamas' October 7 terror attacks were understandable in light of all this.
"We essentially send the message to Palestinians that non-violent protests, that ethical protest resistance, doesn't work. And that makes it easier for Hamas to commit the crimes that they did on October 7," he said.
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Only by acknowledging the true nature of the threat, one that operates invisibly but with strategic intent, can the Korean Peninsula avoid being reshaped according to the designs of those who seek its division and subjugation. David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel who has spent more than 30 years in the Asia Pacific region. He specializes in Northeast Asian security affairs and irregular, unconventional and political warfare. He is vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. After he retired, he became associate director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He is on the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the OSS Society and is the editor at large for the Small Wars Journal.
