Jon Stewart has described Israel’s peace plan as a “military siege,” mocking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “day after” plan for the Gaza Strip.
The comedian discussed the Israel-Hamas war on the latest installment of The Daily Show, which aired on Monday night, blasting Netanyahu’s calls to demilitarize Gaza and take control of the area’s entry and exit points.
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On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 captive. Netanyahu vowed to “demolish Hamas” with Israel subsequently firing airstrikes on Gaza, where Hamas is based.
Supplies of food, medicine, fuel and energy to the area were cut off, before Israel launched a ground offensive in late October. As of February 27, almost 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, while roughly 80 percent of the territory’s 2.3 million population have been displaced.
Stewart shared a CNN clip breaking down Netanyahu’s plan for peace, which includes retaining security over the West Bank and Gaza, where Palestinians wish to create an independent state.
“So your peace plan is a siege,” Stewart said in the response to the footage. “A military siege. You really think a military solution ends this cycle?”
Stewart then cut to a video of Netanyahu, in which the politician states “Victory is within reach.”
“You can’t have victory until you eliminate Hamas,” Netanyahu proclaims in the short clip, to which Stewart replies: “But your plan to eliminate Hamas by destroying all of Gaza doesn’t that just make more Hamases?”
“Palestinian liberation is an idea,” the 61-year-old continued, before jokingly adding. “Unless you have a bomb that kills ideas… Do you have a bomb that kills ideas?
Newsweek has reached out to Jon Stewart for comment via email.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.