Jon Stewart suggests his solution for Israel and Palestine on third Daily Show appearance

In his first two appearances since returning to The Daily Show, Jon Stewart reminded the world that he was brave enough to run where others have tip-toed, with an initial segment questioning Biden’s fitness for the Oval Office and subsequent double-down in the face of Democratic backlash. This week, the host and commentator announced upfront that he would be backing off just a little bit in his third outing… by discussing the war in Israel and Gaza in a “new and probably never-ending segment” called “The Futile Crescent.”

Despite a few jokes calling out his writers for introducing the subject and lamenting the fact that he “legally has to read what’s in the prompter,” Stewart handled the difficult material with care for both the “horrific massacre” and “brutal bombing campaign” that took place both on and since October 7.

As in his first two episodes, Stewart did not shy away from criticizing the Biden administration—this time, for its slap-on-the-wrist response to Israel, the United States’ “[little] brother in the fraternity of nations.” “Maybe it’s time for the U.S. to give Israel some tough moral love,” Stewart said, before rolling a montage of policymakers calling for an end to “war crimes and atrocities” in a variety of speeches. Except those speeches were actually talking about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The government’s response to this war has been more along the lines of “Hey Israel… take it down a notch,” he suggested, before reminding the audience that we’re the ones that gave them all the bombs in the first place. “It’s like your coke dealer coming in with an 8 ball and going, ‘don’t stay up all night!’”

After acknowledging that Israel, Hamas, the U.N., and other countries in the region have all failed to find a solution to the massacre, Stewart proposed three of his own. While the first two were jokes (one involved sending everyone from both sides to a summer camp in Maine to play racket sports), the third, he said, “actually… could work.” Here it is in full:

Starting now, no preconditions, no earned trust, no partners for peace: Israel stops bombing, Hamas releases the hostages. The Arab countries who claim Palestine as their top priority come in and form a demilitarized zone between Israel and a free Palestinian state. The Saudis Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Jordan — they all form like a NATO arrangement guaranteeing security for both sides. Obviously, they won’t call it NATO. It’s the Middle East Treaty Organization — METO. Obviously, I have not worked out the exact verbiage, but anything is better than the cluster fuck cycle we have now.