Fetterman vs. Stewart: The Missing Middle Ground
Stewart asked whether there was anything he'd criticize Israel for. Fetterman said no. Most Israelis would have answered differently.
If you were brave (or bored) enough, you may have sat through a 90-minute conversation between comedian Jon Stewart and Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman.
The interview ranged from the effectiveness of shuttering the US federal government to the future of the Democratic Party, of which Fetterman is a (perhaps begrudging) member. The viral hits on social media cut it down to forty seconds on Israel, when Stewart told Fetterman that the Jewish community and the Jewish state are “not the same thing, brother man.”
Anti-Zionist progressives saw Stewart school Fetterman and get the better of him. Reflexive supporters of Israel saw Fetterman doggedly hold firm. The exchange was missing—if you’ll forgive the pun—a middle ground.
Stewart came at the Israeli-Palestinian question like he usually does. He is not well read on the issues, but his presentation is slick and humorous.
It was kind of rich to hear Stewart lecture Fetterman on antisemitism. He has been accused of playing it down before, by Jewish writers and not only by his usual opponents. Kveller took him apart in 2022 for telling Jews they were overreacting to Kanye and Chappelle, and for the line where he said he gets called antisemitic because he opposes Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
On the Middle East, Jon Stewart told Fetterman that Israel is committing genocide: “according to the people that define those things.” The International Court of Justice defines those things, and it has not made a ruling in the relevant case.
Stewart whaled on Fetterman without a single real policy suggestion. Throughout his career, Stewart has fallen back on the excuse that he’s “not a politician.” But he is a public figure with strong convictions about Israel and the charge of genocide and what he describes as a “murderous Israeli regime.” He could have offered an alternative, rather than gotchas.
Senator Fetterman has been brave on Israel, even as it’s eroded his standing in his own party. However well-intentioned, Fetterman’s position is sorely wanting for nuance. He defends Israel blindly in a way that Benjamin Netanyahu-associated hasbara advocates do.
Stewart pressed Fetterman on whether there was anything, anything, that he would criticize the Israeli government on. Fetterman said “no.” The comedian named real issues, topics I’ve written about here on The Middle Ground and other platforms: the settlements, Jewish extremists in the West Bank, the messianic right. He asked Fetterman whether he’d seen The Gatekeepers, a documentary featuring former Shin Bet directors calling out Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
Fetterman continued straight ahead even as Stewart presented him with successive off ramps. The best he could offer was that maybe Netanyahu won’t prevail in the October Knesset election, though he didn’t comment as to whether or not that would be a good thing (it would be).
The majority of Israelis disagree and are not as hardline as Fetterman. The vast majority of the people of Israel are not Bezalel Smotrich supporters; even most religious Zionists are not. New findings from the aChord Center show that 70% of Israeli Jews want the government to be tougher on settler violence. These are truths that help one’s case for Israel, yet Fetterman seems hesitant or insufficiently informed to present them.
The government Fetterman can say nothing bad about has enabled settler attacks. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz ended administrative detention for Jewish suspects while maintaining it for Palestinians. Israel waged a multi-year war in Gaza, started by Hamas. Still, tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed alongside over 20,000 Hamas terrorists by Israel’s own count, while Netanyahu’s ministers have floated ethnic cleansing.
Most Israelis, people Fetterman is torpedoing his political career to defend, have a lot to say about this, yet the Pennsylvania senator has nothing.
I want a Fetterman that can hold multiple truths at once and defend Israel in a way that works. Israel does not have to be Smotrich, Ben Gvir, and Netanyahu. You can defend the existence of the Jewish state and do the hard work of demanding it change. Fetterman took the lazy route, or he just doesn’t know any better.
On October 27, I will cast my vote for the next Knesset. Neither Jon Stewart nor John Fetterman will decide who wins. Millions of my fellow Israelis want Netanyahu out. We want settler attacks on Palestinians to stop. We want the world to respect Israel’s security concerns and its legitimacy. Most American Jews want the same. These are the people who will make a difference, not two caricatures talking past each other for an hour and a half.
Thomas Sowell: "There is something grotesque about people living thousands of miles away, in safety and comfort, loftily second-guessing and trying to micromanage what the Israelis are doing in a matter of life and death."
Fetterman has done one thing Stewart has never done: met with and talked with families of hostages taken on October 7th.