Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2: From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Center. It's America's
Speaker 2: only sorts for news. This is the Daily Journal with your.
Speaker 3: Host Shown Stewart who welcome, Welcome call to the Daily Show.
Speaker 3: I am your host, John Start listen. Is the third episode.
Speaker 3: This is my third episode.
Speaker 1: The first two very controversial, a lot of discourse around it,
Speaker 1: a lot of carping back and forth, a lot of anger,
Speaker 1: a lot of commentary. Tonight, I'm done with it. Tonight
Speaker 1: is perhaps in a moose bosh, a trifle something light.
Speaker 1: Tonight we discuss Israel Palace. Are we.
Speaker 3: Who wrote this?
Speaker 1: Well? I legally have to read what's in the prompter.
Speaker 1: So here we go. We're going to take a look
Speaker 1: in our new and probably never ending segment.
Speaker 3: Somehow the audience knew. But tonight.
Speaker 1: We discuss Israel Palestine.
Speaker 4: You you excists on the rebounce that iss not to do it,
Speaker 4: scitritify all the ctions of your nations like a mouth
Speaker 4: the fieldic demnust be not mean. We don't condemounts. Don
Speaker 4: not listen to the second If you're predispostn simensis and
Speaker 4: lays on the foe comonie efects, guessing in the least ourtpresisonniety,
Speaker 4: infections of the parenty yam, and craging humsses.
Speaker 3: Well, folks, this is an awful situation.
Speaker 1: We're coming off on five months of a brutal bombing
Speaker 1: campaign brought on by a horrific massacre and hostage taking,
Speaker 1: and we seem no closer to ending anything but the
Speaker 1: reigns of a couple of Ivy League presidents. Well, this
Speaker 1: weekend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, who finally laid out
Speaker 1: his plan for.
Speaker 5: Peace, Benjamin Netanyah, who is calling for complete demilitarization of
Speaker 5: Gaza as well as Israel taking over security and controlling
Speaker 5: entry and exit points to Gaza.
Speaker 1: So your peace plan is a siege, a military sege.
Speaker 1: You really think a military solution ends this cycle?
Speaker 6: Well, victory is within reach, and you can't have victory
Speaker 6: until you eliminate Hamas.
Speaker 1: But okay, but your plan to eliminate Hamas by destroying
Speaker 1: all of Gaza doesn't that just make more Hamases? Is
Speaker 1: that the plural of us Hamasi? I mean it's an idea.
Speaker 1: Pl City liberation is an idea unless you have a
Speaker 1: bomb that kills ideas. Do you have a bomb that
Speaker 1: kills ideas? I mean, how long would it even take
Speaker 1: to bomb the shit out of an idea?
Speaker 6: The intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion,
Speaker 6: not months weeks away from completion.
Speaker 1: Oh, dear God, if you insist on this plan, if
Speaker 1: you think that ends hamas, I believe we in the
Speaker 1: United States have a banner you can use. It's a
Speaker 1: little wind damaged, but equally delusional. Look, the United States
Speaker 1: is Israel's closest ally, Israel's big brother in the Fraternity
Speaker 1: of Nations, Israel's work emergency contact. Maybe it's time for
Speaker 1: the US to give Israel some tough moral love. This
Speaker 1: is shameful.
Speaker 3: There has to be accountability for these war crimes. No
Speaker 3: targeting civilians in war.
Speaker 7: Stop the war crimes and the atrocities, and end the
Speaker 7: war today.
Speaker 1: It could happen right now, right.
Speaker 3: Now, thank you. These atrocities.
Speaker 1: So I'm being told the administration was talking about Russia
Speaker 1: bomb in Ukraine. I apologize, also a war crime. But
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're giving equally stern advice to Israel. The
Speaker 1: Bide administration is urging Israel to be much more careful
Speaker 1: to be more cautious.
Speaker 3: How Israel does this matter?
Speaker 6: Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians.
Speaker 3: We want to see the government of Israel take steps
Speaker 3: to minimize civilian harm. Be more surgical and more precise
Speaker 3: and more careful.
Speaker 1: Hey, Israel, a turner nurs.
Speaker 3: Could you please be more careful with your bombing.
Speaker 1: It's good advice, but really, couldn't The United States have
Speaker 1: told Israel that when we gave them all the bombs.
Speaker 1: When there are bombs, this is like your coke dealer
Speaker 1: coming in with an eight ball and going, don't stay
Speaker 1: up all night. Don't sleep is very important, you don't
Speaker 1: want to, and breakfast is an important part of the day.
Speaker 1: So look, the Israeli position doesn't seem so tenable. Perhaps
Speaker 1: I can find some diplomatic leeway in the Hamas position.
Speaker 3: Israel is a country that has no place under land.
Speaker 3: You must remove that country.
Speaker 7: Does that mean the annihilation of Israel?
Speaker 3: Yes, of course I cannot find diplomatic leeway in the
Speaker 3: Hamas position.
Speaker 1: Well, this is when we need the world, the civilized
Speaker 1: world of nations, to come together and stop this madness.
Speaker 8: A resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza has
Speaker 8: just failed to pass are.
Speaker 9: You in Security Council drop resolution?
Speaker 1: Throughout aid delivery has been vetoed.
Speaker 10: Russia and China used their veto against American resolution condemning Helmas.
Speaker 1: The immediate cease firing Gunza has failed.
Speaker 9: Western Nations voted against it.
Speaker 5: It was delayed four times this week.
Speaker 6: Drafts resolution has not been adopted.
Speaker 3: Why do you even have a fighting building? Why? Why
Speaker 3: do you we can use that we have a housing crisis.
Speaker 1: Give us back a fucking building?
Speaker 3: Is right? What is what is the United Nations even?
Speaker 5: What?
Speaker 1: Are you just a support system for a diverse and
Speaker 1: pleasing food court? What are you that cannot be the
Speaker 1: UN's food court? By the way, that is that is
Speaker 1: clearly just a mall in Long Island. Doesn't anyone care
Speaker 1: about the suffering of all these civilians? What about a
Speaker 1: good neighbor?
Speaker 4: Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian cause is the Arab world's
Speaker 4: most important cause.
Speaker 1: I want to see a good life for the Pedestinians.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Saudi, thank you. And while Saudi Arabia does
Speaker 1: not accept Palestinian refugees and Egypt doesn't either, for that matter,
Speaker 1: the Saudis are the richest country in the region, and
Speaker 1: they've given this can't be right? Uh, on average about
Speaker 1: two hundred million dollars a year to the Palestinians. Jesus,
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? The Saudis have given just as
Speaker 1: much money to phil Mickelson.
Speaker 3: Is that true? I assume, I assume.
Speaker 1: To promote the equally important cause of the Mikelsonian people.
Speaker 1: So Israel, the United States, the United Nations, the Arab Nations.
Speaker 1: No one seems to be incentivized to stop the suffering
Speaker 1: of the innocent peace in this region. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to bring this up, but there is another player, small
Speaker 1: religious startup out of Bethlehem. I think he might have
Speaker 1: begun as a carpenter's union, but has gotten big. Did
Speaker 1: they have a plan for the Middle East?
Speaker 11: There will be the Battle of Armageddon. Jesus Christ is
Speaker 11: going to sweep over that battlefield and to annihilate that
Speaker 11: army of two hundred million people. The blood will flow
Speaker 11: to the bridle of a horse.
Speaker 1: So that's the plan for the principece is that all?
Speaker 1: I am not in a questrian expert, but if the
Speaker 1: blood goes all the way to the bridle.
Speaker 3: That's an enormous amount of blood.
Speaker 1: No, unless talk about the mini horses, because that's still.
Speaker 3: It's a lot of blood, but more manageable.
Speaker 1: And adorable. But I think, I think we have to
Speaker 1: get real here. The status quo cycle of provocation and
Speaker 1: retribution is predicated on some idea that one of these
Speaker 1: groups is going to go away, and they are not.
Speaker 1: If we want a safe and free Israel and a
Speaker 1: safe and free Palestine, we have to recognize that reality.
Speaker 1: And I know that there is a twisted and much
Speaker 1: contested history in the region that has brought us to
Speaker 1: this point. But we are at this point and anything
Speaker 1: we do from here has to look forward. So tonight,
Speaker 1: lucky you, I'm going to do that with not one,
Speaker 1: not two, but a three solution for peace number one.
Speaker 10: Along the shores of Pleasant Lake in Maine, ninety five
Speaker 10: Israeli and Palestinian teams are trading.
Speaker 3: Rockets for rackets. Not The goal of Seeds of Peace
Speaker 3: is to open these young mines.
Speaker 1: Okay, that one hasn't been scaled up yet and may
Speaker 1: take longer than we have unless we just bring the
Speaker 1: whole region to Maine. How fast can we make fourteen
Speaker 1: million rackets?
Speaker 3: But that's just my opening offer. That was just one
Speaker 3: peace plant. People don't abandon me yet.
Speaker 1: No number two.
Speaker 3: Let's just ask God. It's his house, He's the one
Speaker 3: who started all this. Just ask God. He can tell
Speaker 3: us who is right? Is it the Jews? Is it
Speaker 3: the Buslims? Is it the Zoroastrians?
Speaker 1: If it's the scientologists, a lot of us are going
Speaker 1: to have egg on our faces. But given God's lack
Speaker 1: of communication over this past, let's say millennia. All right,
Speaker 1: here's another one, and heaven forbid, I actually think this
Speaker 1: last one could work starting now, no preconditions, no earned trust,
Speaker 1: no partners for peace. Israel stops bombing Hamas, releases the hostages.
Speaker 1: The Arab countries who claim Palestine as their top priority
Speaker 1: come in and form a demilitarized zone between Israel and
Speaker 1: a free Palestinian state. The Saudis, Egypt, UAE, Cutter Jordan.
Speaker 1: They all form like a NATO arrangement guarantee toy for
Speaker 1: both sides. Obviously, they won't call it NATO. It's the
Speaker 1: Middle East Treaty Organization.
Speaker 3: It's me too. It's tweet it out me too tonight.
Speaker 1: People, let's get this region me too.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 3: Obviously I have not worked out.
Speaker 1: The exact verbiage. But anything is better than the cluster
Speaker 1: cycle we have now, because honestly, what is the alternative?
Speaker 10: The trump of God sounds and the rapture happens, We're
Speaker 10: gone in the twinkling of a nine, We're just simply
Speaker 10: not here.
Speaker 1: Poof indeed, Sir Poof Indeed, when we come back, Martaza Hussein,
Speaker 1: and yeah, your Rosenberg will be joining me on the
Speaker 1: program and fixing everything I said.
Speaker 12: Don't go away about the Palace show.
Speaker 1: Let's continue our conversation about Israel and Palestine. Please welcome,
Speaker 1: senior writer at the Intercept. We're Tazan Hussein and staff
Speaker 1: writer at the Atlantic. Yeah you're Rosenberg.
Speaker 3: Please word that show. You placome.
Speaker 1: The audience. Very rarely do you get a standing ovation
Speaker 1: for the guests, but clearly they think Muslim and Jew
Speaker 1: sitting next to each other, how can that be? But
Speaker 1: thank you both for being here. You are both obviously
Speaker 1: you're American writers that write al a lot about the
Speaker 1: Middle East, the Peace Plan, the Stewart Plan as I
Speaker 1: call it, the me too Plan. And Taza will start
Speaker 1: with you, how unrealistic is that? It's similar to a
Speaker 1: two thousand and two Arab League resolution. Why why can't
Speaker 1: this happen?
Speaker 9: Well, you know, it's not a bad idea, and on
Speaker 9: paper we're going.
Speaker 1: To cut there.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for.
Speaker 1: So appreciate that.
Speaker 13: Well, you know, I think the problem is I write
Speaker 13: about US foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, and
Speaker 13: I feel that the consistent theme here is that when
Speaker 13: we give blank checks to countries which are clients or partners,
Speaker 13: we enable their worst tendencies or their worst behaviors. In
Speaker 13: this case, you know, you mentioned the Arab Peace Plan.
Speaker 13: In two thousand and two, the Arab League offered Israel
Speaker 13: full political, economic, diplomatic normalization exchange for the main crux
Speaker 13: of it is creating a Palestinian state in the nineteen
Speaker 13: sixty seven borders, which is in line with international law
Speaker 13: and so forth.
Speaker 9: Bright they've read.
Speaker 1: Under repatriation plan, which which.
Speaker 13: Can mean negotiate the details of it, but that was
Speaker 13: the crux of it. And you know they've reiterated this
Speaker 13: plan many, many times, including recently. It's not just our world,
Speaker 13: the broader Muslim world as well too. I interviewed the
Speaker 13: Pakistani ambassador to the UN a few weeks ago. He
Speaker 13: told me that Pakistan, Indonesia other large population Muslim countries
Speaker 13: would be willing to normalize with Israel, but they do
Speaker 13: not want the Palistenians be thrown under the bus. There
Speaker 13: needs to be a two state solution in their view,
Speaker 13: creating a state in those lines. Without that, they cannot
Speaker 13: be But Israeli government has never responded to this steal.
Speaker 13: It's not even rejected, it's refused to engage. And I
Speaker 13: think the main reason is because they have the US
Speaker 13: as a guaranteur. Whatever they do will have a superpower backing,
Speaker 13: and many people in Israel want the West Bank and
Speaker 13: the Israeli government Benjamin Nyahu's brag that he's stopped the
Speaker 13: Palestinian Statement coming into existence, and because they have this backing,
Speaker 13: they don't need to compromise with their neighbors or engage
Speaker 13: with the neighbors.
Speaker 1: And the US backing of that enables I think reticence.
Speaker 13: I think the US putting itself in this position, not
Speaker 13: just this position, many other situations where it's acts as
Speaker 13: a blank check writer for its clients, it enables these situtions.
Speaker 1: We got to make money somehow, and without selling weapons,
Speaker 1: what are we going to fall back on? Wheat? Come on, yeah,
Speaker 1: you probably have a slightly different interpretation of that piece
Speaker 1: plan and also what we laid out here.
Speaker 7: So yeah, well I think that again the idea is
Speaker 7: actually a pretty good one, which is they had to
Speaker 7: put some third party in between these two parties.
Speaker 1: That's what seems like hash.
Speaker 7: That would then be sort of like the you know,
Speaker 7: the referee. The problem is is that while you, as
Speaker 7: you showed in your monolog the Aero States are willing
Speaker 7: to talk a big game. In the United States and
Speaker 7: sometimes depending on the administration, will also talk a big game,
Speaker 7: but no one actually wants to put their own troops
Speaker 7: down there. Can you imagine America under Democratic presidents who
Speaker 7: are retrenching from the Middle East, right, trying to get
Speaker 7: out of the forever words, or Donald Trump who wants
Speaker 7: to turn Americans to some sort of isolationist country, get
Speaker 7: us out of you know, stops helping Ukraine. Right, They're
Speaker 7: not going to stick Americans there, right. The Arab country
Speaker 7: is no different. They'll they'll you know, give a token
Speaker 7: amount of money and then try to like, you know,
Speaker 7: make it go away. And so that's I think the
Speaker 7: fundamental fall here. I will say that if you took
Speaker 7: away us backing and said Israelis, we're going to put
Speaker 7: some other people on your border, particularly say Arab states,
Speaker 7: and they're going to be the guarantors of your security.
Speaker 7: These Relis wouldn't say, well, guess we don't have the Americans.
Speaker 1: We're just going to pack it up, right, because this
Speaker 1: is a country, but he's going anywhere. Yeah.
Speaker 7: And also if this is a country that's full of people,
Speaker 7: right who fled other countries, including those Arab countries, because
Speaker 7: they were persecuted, right, killed, dispossessed. Right, there's like, you know,
Speaker 7: half of Israelis are now Middle Eastern Orich.
Speaker 1: But two diasporus don't make a right you know, but.
Speaker 3: They won't they won't trust that. But let me, let
Speaker 3: me let me push back on both of these for
Speaker 3: just one so.
Speaker 1: And this just pushes back on both you know, we
Speaker 1: get into this litigation of well, the Palestinians and the
Speaker 1: Arab state. They proposed something very reasonable to these religues,
Speaker 1: but these Raelis wouldn't do it. And they just rarely say, well,
Speaker 1: we don't have a partner for peace, and we propose
Speaker 1: something very reasonable, but they didn't do Doesn't it appear
Speaker 1: that no party is in incentivized to fix this at
Speaker 1: the peril and detriment to the Palestinian people. And here's
Speaker 1: what I mean by that, Egypt has its border closed
Speaker 1: to the Palestinians. These are autocratic states in the Arab world.
Speaker 1: They all view the creation of Israel as this humiliation.
Speaker 1: If that's where they start from. It's a very easy
Speaker 1: kind of issue to deflect attention from your own dictatorships,
Speaker 1: to own the so called Arab street with anger towards Israel.
Speaker 1: But the Saudis they all do business together, aren't they
Speaker 1: DISINCENTI disincentivized to fix this net and Yahoo, whenever he
Speaker 1: gets in political trouble, suddenly there's a war. So who
Speaker 1: is incentivized to actually fix this? And isn't the people
Speaker 1: who really suffer from all of it, just the Palestinians
Speaker 1: who get no regard from any group, no real support.
Speaker 13: You know, I think that was the case for some time.
Speaker 13: But I think that things have changed in the sense
Speaker 13: that the Arab countries are very eager to get this
Speaker 13: off their plate. Actually, that's why they had this Arab
Speaker 13: Peace Initiative and keep reiterating it because they no longer
Speaker 13: want to have a complict.
Speaker 9: Israel's not in their interests.
Speaker 13: They like to move past it, but they cannot do
Speaker 13: so in a way which ignores the Palestinians. And I
Speaker 13: think that the idea of the Abraham Accords, for instance,
Speaker 13: was let's a side set this issue and make deals
Speaker 13: with the Amortis and Saudis and so forth. I was
Speaker 13: in South Arabia recently, and I was talking to a
Speaker 13: broad range of people. I think the idea that the
Speaker 13: Saudis will make a deal with Israel without a two
Speaker 13: state solution or meaningful pathway to one, or significant concistions
Speaker 13: on that subject, it's very unrealistic because no.
Speaker 1: That's my point is the two state solutions. But if
Speaker 1: nobody is there to just guarant everybody has preconditions for everything.
Speaker 1: You know, Nyahu, I need a partner for if you
Speaker 1: don't meet these certain conditions of no violence, I won't
Speaker 1: negotiate with you. Well, America occupied i Rock and there
Speaker 1: was violence there entire time. I mean, imagine if we
Speaker 1: had set a precondition that there'd be no Iraqi government
Speaker 1: unless you know this violence would end nothing. Whatever. It
Speaker 1: seems like nobody's actually being honest or genuine in the
Speaker 1: region about their aims.
Speaker 7: I would put it a little differently with just to
Speaker 7: say that the people who are running your and I'm
Speaker 7: a comedian, we'll see, we'll see when it's done. The
Speaker 7: people who are running the show for some time, which
Speaker 7: is how we arrive at this disastrous destination, are these
Speaker 7: absolutist actors who they might say that we'll negotiate and
Speaker 7: here's the condition and here's you know whatever. They might
Speaker 7: say that to some people, but in practice we see
Speaker 7: from you know, many years of Nathanal governance, every single
Speaker 7: document and statement, as you showed to you people from Hamas, right.
Speaker 7: These are people who want everything right. They see half
Speaker 7: of the people in the land as the problem. Right,
Speaker 7: and then the question is how you mean yeah, the
Speaker 7: absoluteist okay? And then there are lots of people who
Speaker 7: are also pragmatists, and that's how we had a peace
Speaker 7: process that failed. But there were genuine majorities in the
Speaker 7: polls at the time among his Railies and Palasenians behind
Speaker 7: negotiations for two and so there always are those people.
Speaker 7: They might be a minority, they might be a rejority
Speaker 7: at a given point in time during a war. Right now,
Speaker 7: they're a minority, right, But there's always those people who
Speaker 7: say this is not going to be solved with weapons.
Speaker 7: We need to find a way to live together. But
Speaker 7: we're not supporting those ever.
Speaker 1: Be solved if the United States and Israel, the two,
Speaker 1: let's face it, most hated entities in that part of
Speaker 1: the world, are the ones responsible for the peacekeeping effort.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make any sense if Abs don't step in,
Speaker 1: if the Arab nation's there, And couldn't you say that
Speaker 1: this was a great bulwark against the strength of Iran.
Speaker 1: Couldn't you convince UAE in Saudis that the only way
Speaker 1: to temper Tehran is by forming this alliance and recognizing them.
Speaker 13: Well, it's interesting you mentioned that the US stance in
Speaker 13: the region that's very unpopular.
Speaker 9: I think it's related to this issue.
Speaker 13: This is the core issue of why the US has
Speaker 13: not had normal relations in the Arab world and Muslim
Speaker 13: world generally. It's a very bitter and a symbolic issue
Speaker 13: for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: We do have normal relationship. There's not more weapons of
Speaker 1: the Saudis than we do to these.
Speaker 13: On a public level or like you know, only with
Speaker 13: dictators for instance. The reason this democracy is very skeptical
Speaker 13: in our world, we're afraid that regimes which are matter
Speaker 13: at US will come to power.
Speaker 9: But I think the main issue, I.
Speaker 13: Think from a US perspective, primarily is that we're involved
Speaker 13: in this very bitter conflict. We're not taking it seriously
Speaker 13: and solving it. We take a very one side approach,
Speaker 13: I think, and we do that supposedly in Israel's interest,
Speaker 13: but I think what it does in reality is prolonged
Speaker 13: the conflict and definitely to everyone's detriment. I had come
Speaker 13: to the position that we should either be fair in
Speaker 13: this conflict and adjudicate it in a way which is
Speaker 13: fair and results in a just solution both sides.
Speaker 9: Except or we should leave. We should leave because.
Speaker 13: Impacting us in very very negative ways militarily, economically, strategically.
Speaker 13: We have other problems in the world to deal with
Speaker 13: as well too.
Speaker 9: And I believe that if.
Speaker 13: The US were to pull what I'd say is blank
Speaker 13: check from Israel, it would incentivize Israel to compromise more
Speaker 13: because ultimately Israel has to live in the Middle East.
Speaker 13: That's where the country is, that's where the people are.
Speaker 9: Going to be. Their neighbors who are willing to compromise
Speaker 9: with us.
Speaker 1: We can move them to main is wide open. They
Speaker 1: could play tennis, really, But I hear your point. But
Speaker 1: to that, I do think that the idea that this
Speaker 1: is all about the United States, that we are the
Speaker 1: actor that drives all that, I think plays into a
Speaker 1: myth of United States control. And I think if we've
Speaker 1: learned anything in these last twenty to thirty years of
Speaker 1: the United States is we've got big influence, but we
Speaker 1: sure as hell don't have control. And I'm not so
Speaker 1: sure that by the US changing its policy in certain
Speaker 1: ways that that solves this. What's your thought on that, Well, I.
Speaker 7: Mean, John, that's a very controversial thing to say that
Speaker 7: the United States is not the main character of the
Speaker 7: entire plan.
Speaker 1: And you said it, and I didn't say it. That
Speaker 1: was him. Okay, you know.
Speaker 7: Because you know this is not live, so maybe we'll
Speaker 7: cut that, yes, exactly, but you know.
Speaker 1: That is clearly the case.
Speaker 7: There is this sort of sense that a lot of
Speaker 7: people have that the United States, and the President of
Speaker 7: the United States in particular, have the ability to sort
Speaker 7: of wave a magic wand and solve these things.
Speaker 1: If they could.
Speaker 7: There are multiple American presidents who would have done so,
Speaker 7: and they would have changed the policies and they would
Speaker 7: have tried, and there were always people in different factions
Speaker 7: in the State Department, and they tried different things. You
Speaker 7: go out to Eisenhower and Nixon, they all had plans,
Speaker 7: right and you know, they pressure at Israel in ways
Speaker 7: that you know presidents today don't. But there's a reason
Speaker 7: why we moved in different directions because they thought maybe
Speaker 7: we if we are you know, more, you know involved.
Speaker 7: And one thing I want to say to this though,
Speaker 7: is that a lot of people want to see a
Speaker 7: solution in the Middle East, but they also want to
Speaker 7: see the US.
Speaker 1: Get out of the Middle East.
Speaker 7: And those two things are in contradiction, and people are
Speaker 7: ultimately going to have to make choices about what the
Speaker 7: US does and doesn't do.
Speaker 1: But I don't necessarily have the answer to not be
Speaker 1: so involved in the region. I do think if there
Speaker 1: is to your point, if the Arab States form a
Speaker 1: more broader alliance with Israel in a genuine way, and
Speaker 1: that the United States wouldn't feel maybe that it had
Speaker 1: to be on the line there. Listen. I'm no fan
Speaker 1: of any of it. I think this cycle of violence
Speaker 1: over the seventy five years is destroying the dreams of
Speaker 1: two peoples not just a palistinis. I think it's destroying
Speaker 1: the dream of the Israeli people. Well, and so I
Speaker 1: think that what we're doing now, clearly, and what we've
Speaker 1: been doing is a cycle that we have to pull
Speaker 1: out of. And I imagine, you know, that's the thing
Speaker 1: that ultimately has to happen. We're talking to Martaza Hussein
Speaker 1: and yeah, you're Rosenberg, and we talked a little bit
Speaker 1: about some of the things that could help break the
Speaker 1: cycle of violence in the Middle East. You know, the
Speaker 1: act of the two of you sitting here having this
Speaker 1: conversation is almost rebellious or revolutionary in the current moment.
Speaker 1: How do you counsel Americans in this moment to be
Speaker 1: able to, you know, not lose so many Facebook friends
Speaker 1: when it comes to all this. Is there any advice
Speaker 1: that you guys have.
Speaker 7: Well, the backstory of the two of us is that
Speaker 7: we've been having these conversations for something like ten years.
Speaker 7: And the further backstory is that we reached out to
Speaker 7: each other on Twitter because we both realized that we
Speaker 7: shared a lot in common about how we approached the world,
Speaker 7: but we had very different opinions on issues like these,
Speaker 7: and that's that we became friends some ten years ago,
Speaker 7: is it like?
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 7: We've been doing this over you know, atsher in kosher
Speaker 7: restaurants because for Sunnia Muslims, many of them kosher mediashalal.
Speaker 7: And so I will take murders to a coachure restaurant,
Speaker 7: introduce him to it, and then we'll have conversations like these.
Speaker 7: And John is just you know, interloping, you know, just
Speaker 7: sort of you know, we decided to let him come
Speaker 7: to check that. There we go and so and what
Speaker 7: it is is we refuse to allow ourselves or our
Speaker 7: communities to be held hostage to a runeous conflict thousands
Speaker 7: of miles away that we may never be able to
Speaker 7: fully resolve or fix, but we can have an impact
Speaker 7: about how we treat each other here. And the other thing,
Speaker 7: you know, I would say is that we both are
Speaker 7: both journalists and one of the things that motivates us
Speaker 7: is our pursuit of truth and what is true, and
Speaker 7: we share that even when we disagree, it's because we
Speaker 7: came to different conceptions and we really believe the other
Speaker 7: is honest.
Speaker 13: Yes, well said, Well, you know, ultimately, as ye I mentioned,
Speaker 13: we're journalists and you know we seek out people's perspectives
Speaker 13: are different from you, who see different world to see
Speaker 13: the world from a different view, and then that's how
Speaker 13: you learn about the world a little bit. I think
Speaker 13: I have to say that it's easier for us to though,
Speaker 13: because not Israeli and not Pastenian.
Speaker 9: Ultimately we're American and review it that way.
Speaker 13: You know, both of us know people who've families members
Speaker 13: have been killed recently, many dozens in some cases in
Speaker 13: Gaza recently, and you know that emotional component. You can
Speaker 13: compartmentalize it when you're not so directly involved. So we
Speaker 13: look at an American perspective two different sides. It's issue
Speaker 13: in some sense, but we're able to have that conversation,
Speaker 13: which is constructive.
Speaker 9: What I would say, you know, I could accept.
Speaker 13: Any Palestinians view or any Israelis view when they're so
Speaker 13: intimately involved in it, But I can never respect the
Speaker 13: blood thirsty American. That's the only person that can not respect.
Speaker 1: So it is you know, I have said this for
Speaker 1: many years, one of the biggest issues I have with
Speaker 1: American foreign policy is how cavalier it is about the
Speaker 1: destruction that so money of our policies have had internationally,
Speaker 1: even something is simple. As you know, we had a
Speaker 1: big issue here with burn Pitch, with Iraqi war veterans
Speaker 1: and Afghan war veterans, and we talked a lot about
Speaker 1: getting them the help they need here. But the thing
Speaker 1: nobody ever talked about was what those did to the
Speaker 1: environment in Iraq and Afghanistan we left, and I think
Speaker 1: our policies oftentimes are cavalier to the destruction that occurs.
Speaker 13: Of report from Iraq, and I met so many people
Speaker 13: whose found members were killed by the US military or
Speaker 13: by the violence of the place in that time. Also
Speaker 13: a value elevated rates of cancer and other indirect causes
Speaker 13: of the war, and.
Speaker 9: It's kind of not just kind of forgotten.
Speaker 13: Actually those people are, their lives go on, but you
Speaker 13: know the impact that we had in a very cavalier
Speaker 13: moment to us because of the new cycle and Mozan
Speaker 13: so but you know, those memories stay and the impacts
Speaker 13: our ability to operate there or how we're viewed there
Speaker 13: in the future. So it's something which you know, it's
Speaker 13: maybe very pessimistic about US foreign policy, and since that,
Speaker 13: I know many at the end of the Cold War
Speaker 13: there's an optimistic view we can make the world a
Speaker 13: better place. I think it's some case true in some cases,
Speaker 13: but I'm a lot more hesitant to get the US
Speaker 13: deeply involved because there's a very negative track record.
Speaker 1: I think there's a mythology around sort of the Marshall plan,
Speaker 1: and it's the you know, after World War Two we
Speaker 1: were in war with Germany and Japan, and we threw
Speaker 1: a bunch of money at it, and now we're the
Speaker 1: best of friends and they buy our cars and we
Speaker 1: buy their cars, and it's all lovely and all it
Speaker 1: takes is a little bit of money and some American
Speaker 1: know how, and we can turn the world into allies.
Speaker 1: I think we might have learned the wrong message from
Speaker 1: all that.
Speaker 7: I'd also say from reporting around the world myself, when
Speaker 7: you talk to people, this can have the wrong impact.
Speaker 7: If you have a great mythology about yourself and how
Speaker 7: you fix all the world's problems, then some people will say,
Speaker 7: how can the Americans not fix this problem?
Speaker 1: And they're like, no, it is they believe us.
Speaker 7: People believe us, right, And I will say to them, actually,
Speaker 7: they are a tremendous number of incredibly well meeting people
Speaker 7: serving our country trying to do this stuff.
Speaker 1: It's just really hard.
Speaker 7: But there's a certain story that we've told, and sometimes
Speaker 7: people really expect us to make good on it, and
Speaker 7: there are impossible promises that we can't keep.
Speaker 1: How do you guys to go siate this pragmatic view
Speaker 1: within your own families? Because I know within you know,
Speaker 1: there is no I can't get five Jews to agree
Speaker 1: on anything at dinner, right, How do you negotiate that
Speaker 1: within your own families? You know?
Speaker 7: I think there's the personality type that tries to really
Speaker 7: hear where people are coming from.
Speaker 1: And speak to You can get one of those in
Speaker 1: your family.
Speaker 7: Sheer, dumb luck or your dad is a rabbi in
Speaker 7: my case, right, you know, And so that's what you
Speaker 7: do as the rabbi, right, And you're trying to understand
Speaker 7: where everyone in the audience is coming from. Your synagogue
Speaker 7: can be diverse, and there are people with different political
Speaker 7: and ideological perspectives, and how do you tell them the
Speaker 7: truth and stay true to that while also saying, you know,
Speaker 7: speaking to each of them, right? And so yeah, it's
Speaker 7: a type of personality. You see it in different There
Speaker 7: are different kinds of political leaders and spiritual leaders who
Speaker 7: manage to do this, and there are others who feel like,
Speaker 7: what's the hardest, sharpest, best viral slogan I can use
Speaker 7: on Twitter right to own the other side. And by
Speaker 7: the way, when we were younger, I mean, I'll speak
Speaker 7: for you, we were like that.
Speaker 9: I was much more hot headed when I was younger.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, when we first met, you guys seemed the
Speaker 1: opposite of hot headed.
Speaker 3: Like it's we aged a lot.
Speaker 1: I honestly, I feel like I want this as my screensaver,
Speaker 1: like this is just so calming to me that I
Speaker 1: what about you? Say? So let me ask you this
Speaker 1: is this because that brings up any interesy point what
Speaker 1: mitigated the rashness? Was it just youth? What what got
Speaker 1: you guys less visceral?
Speaker 9: I think getting older is one aspect of it.
Speaker 13: But then also, you know, reading a lot of books,
Speaker 13: trying to see other people's to travel that has a
Speaker 13: big impact on things, keeping open mind, trying to treat
Speaker 13: others consistently as you want to be treated, keeping that
Speaker 13: Golden rule in mind as well too. I'll tell you
Speaker 13: know you mentioned family. It's interesting because I've had confidences family.
Speaker 13: Family very spread out over the world, and you know,
Speaker 13: certain experiences can be very resonant with people. I had
Speaker 13: an uncle who lives in a Pakistan, and you know,
Speaker 13: he was very critical for the US warn of Ghanstan.
Speaker 13: He thought that it was very, very bad. He said,
Speaker 13: I think he visited Kabbo and that's kind of what
Speaker 13: put this in his mind. And he said, looks, nothing
Speaker 13: is being built here, it's all falling apart.
Speaker 9: There. Didn't make anything good from their presence here. It's
Speaker 9: just very exploitative.
Speaker 13: And then he actually visited New York one day and
Speaker 13: he visited the subway system and he's like, oh, now
Speaker 13: I get it.
Speaker 3: Actually, it's not they just it's not there on purpose.
Speaker 3: They just can't do it.
Speaker 1: Actually, So that's hilarious.
Speaker 7: I mean you look at I mean, this is where
Speaker 7: we're getting to the jokes portion, which is hard in this.
Speaker 1: Topic, very hard.
Speaker 7: And like people ask me, like, how do I conceptualize
Speaker 7: that Comas has what is the New York Times as
Speaker 7: three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty miles
Speaker 7: of tunnels underneath Gaza.
Speaker 3: I was like to think, think of it this way.
Speaker 7: It would cost New York City six hundred and forty
Speaker 7: eight quadrillion dollars over two hundred and sixty eight years
Speaker 7: to build that much tunnel.
Speaker 1: Right, you know, it's just a really well it just
Speaker 1: raised the price to a dollar fifty ride and then
Speaker 1: that's problem sold two dollars a ride. I appreciate you
Speaker 1: both so much for coming on and having the conversation
Speaker 1: and really just admire both of you, not just for
Speaker 1: having this conversation, but your journalism as well. It's it's
Speaker 1: really fantastic stuff. Well, thank you both. Uh Mertaco who say.
Speaker 11: I have to do.
Speaker 3: Well, I want to buy health Coach Trump for tonight.
Speaker 1: Before we go, We're gonna check in with your host
Speaker 1: for the rest of this week, Michael Gosta.
Speaker 3: Michael, the people are lamoring for you.
Speaker 1: What are the stories you're gonna be covering this week, Well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be covering the big political event in this country, John.
Speaker 8: President Biden is taking a trip to the border on
Speaker 8: the same day that Donald Trump is taking a trip
Speaker 8: to the border. The question, John, is which border, So
Speaker 8: tune in this week to find out. Thanks everybody, My god,
Speaker 8: you don't need to thought for and that's not I'm
Speaker 8: pretty sure, my.
Speaker 1: God, I'm pretty sure it's the US Mexico border. So
Speaker 1: I don't think that I'm gonna dude.
Speaker 3: Spoiler alert spoiler it's just.
Speaker 1: Everybody I'm called.
Speaker 3: Anyway.
Speaker 1: So I know we're only three episodes into this, but
Speaker 1: if you'll indulge me, I wanted to tell you a
Speaker 1: little bit of a story about twelve years ago, maybe
Speaker 1: thirteen years ago, my kids wanted to raise a little
Speaker 1: money for an animal shelter down in New York City.
Speaker 1: It's an incredible Animal Haven, is the name of it.
Speaker 1: They do incredible work. It's a no kill shelter for
Speaker 1: cats and dogs, and so yeah, please, they're amazing. So
Speaker 1: they were, well, I mean, six seven years old. So
Speaker 1: we baked a couple of cupcakes and rolled on down
Speaker 1: to Animal Haven and set up a little table right
Speaker 1: outside and put the cupcakes out. And as a little
Speaker 1: extra incentive, uh, they brought out this oneish year old
Speaker 1: brindle pitbull who ah h hippy car in Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: lost his right leg. I thought I'd get further. So
Speaker 1: it was a perfect idea. They put the dog in
Speaker 1: my lap and we left that day feeling really good
Speaker 1: that we'd helped this great organization. And we also left
Speaker 1: with this, yeah, this oneish year old brind pit bull
Speaker 1: we called him Tipper, and in a world of good boys,
Speaker 1: he was the best. He used to come to the
Speaker 1: Daily Show every day. He was part of the og
Speaker 1: Daily Show Dog crew, Parker Qualle, Dipper Riot, they were
Speaker 1: they were the ogs in the office and they were
Speaker 1: Dipper would wait and we'd come and take the show.
Speaker 1: And Dipper would wait for me to be done. And
Speaker 1: he met actors and authors and presidents and kings, and
Speaker 1: he did he did what the Taliban could not do,
Speaker 1: which is put a scare into malalay soft sign.
Speaker 14: Oh darn, Dipper pastorway yesterday.
Speaker 1: He was ready, he was tired, but that wasn't and
Speaker 1: the family we were all together, Thank goodness, we were
Speaker 1: all with him. But boy, I wish for you one
Speaker 1: day you find that dog, that one dog. It just
Speaker 1: it's the best.
Speaker 2: Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
Speaker 2: searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts. Watch
Speaker 2: The Daily Show weeknights at eleven ten Central on Comedy
Speaker 2: Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 3: This has been a Comedy Central podcast