Jon Stewart Rejects Idea That Criticizing Israel ‘Feeds the Fire’ of Antisemitism: ‘I Believe Antisemitism Will Be Fine’

Ever since Jon Stewart returned to “The Daily Show,” viewers have been wanting him to dive into the ongoing Israel-Hamas war — and on Monday night, he did just that.

During his monologue, the Comedy Central host aggressively criticized Israel’s “de-escalation through escalation” strategy, calling it out as simply “war.” “Do you even hear yourself?” Stewart yelled before trying to find the phrase in a variety of books, from the doublespeak-filled “1984” to the anti-war novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” and even “Garfield: Fat Cat 3-Pack.”

Stewart later feigned shock and humility for doing the unthinkable: criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He then paraphrased several American news pundits’ takes on the war, saying, “Criticism of the war is shameful and it gives comfort to Hamas.”

“You know who may be surprised to hear that? The Israelis, who are unbelievably critical of the war and Netanyahu,” Stewart countered.

“But still, people are going to see this segment and go, ‘All right, maybe Israel isn’t perfect. But criticizing them feeds the fire. Don’t you worry about antisemitism?'” the comedian said. “And to that I say no. I believe antisemitism will be fine. I gotta say, not for nothing, but from what I’ve experienced, it’s very resilient and it’s not really tied to any event or war or activity or reality.”

As an example, Stewart called out Kanye West, saying that the rapper “thought we ruined his Adidas deal” — a deal that was cancelled after the musician made a series of antisemitic remarks. “We just need orthopedics, that’s all,” Stewart joked.

The late night host then became more serious, if only for a second. “Antisemitism will survive this war as it’s survived all wars going back to the brave Hebrews at Masada,” Stewart said before turning to a second camera. “Do you see rabbi? I was paying attention in Hebrew school.” Watch the full segment above.

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