Jon Stewart Doesn't Think Israel is Part of The Jewish Community

 

I've never thought Jon Stewart was particularly funny. Not when he had a syndicated talk show more than 30 years ago and not today.

I've also never taken Jon Stewart seriously as a political analyst. Whenever he would be overmatched by someone who knew what they were talking about such as John Yoo, Stewart would by default say, 'I'm a comedian,' Well, that's a debatable proposition. In any case, I believe Stewart is daft.

Case in point was his testy interview with Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman over his support for Israel. At one point in the interview, Fetterman told Stewart that he supports Israel in part because when Jews are persecuted "things end badly." Stewart shot back, "The Jewish community and Israel are not the same thing, brother-man. That is not the same thing."

If that is true then why did Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drive his truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan armed with a rifle and with explosives? In the days which followed, newspaper headlines proclaimed the shooter's family had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. What was not mentioned was that Ghazali's brother was a Hezbollah commander. Abdul El-Sayed, now the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Michigan, excused Ghazali's action stating that "hurt people hurt people." Those who hate Jews make no distinction between Jews in Israel, Jews in San Jose or Jews in the Philippines. 

Stewart's comment, on its face, is also absurd. Israel is a part of the Jewish community. Nearly half the world's Jewish population is in Israel. A country which emerged out of the ashes of the Holocaust after most of the world refused to admit Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler. Frederick Blair, the civil servant in charge of Canada's immigration system proclaimed, "None is too many."  It is those attitudes which necessitated the creation of Israel and necessitate its continuation. Indeed, the cradle of Judaism is to be found in Jerusalem. To suggest that Jews have no ties to Israel is akin to suggesting that Muslims have no ties to Mecca.

Of course, while Stewart is Jewish it is clear that he is woefully ignorant of his people's history and culture. I also suspect that Stewart is ashamed of being Jewish and hence his hostility to a non-Jew like Fetterman who goes out on a limb to support Israel and the Jewish community at large. After all, his real name is Jon Leibowitz. Alas, he is not the first Jew to Anglicize his name and sadly he won't be the last.