By Sharon Zhang
This article was originally published by Truthout
Stewart also reminded Fetterman that Jewish people and Israel are “not the same thing.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) has been grilled on his extremist support of Israel by Jon Stewart, who highlighted the absurdity of Fetterman’s positions by reminding the senator that Israel is “not our country.”
In a clip of Stewart’s podcast that gained traction online on Wednesday, Fetterman expressed his anxieties about the growing influence of the left and progressives who want the U.S. to end its support of Israel.
When asked if Israel is a “red line” for his backing of the Democratic Party, Fetterman says “absolutely. Israel, for me — I can’t ever turn my back to Israel.”
Stewart fires back, saying: “I mean no disrespect on this, but that is not our country.” The former “The Daily Show” host points out that it’s strange for Fetterman to set aside every other left-wing belief like reducing the influence of money in politics, supporting labor rights, and backing LGBTQ rights just in order to stand with Israel.
“You’re saying that these candidates may have great ideas for our economy. They may want to do the exact same thing you want to do in terms of getting money out of politics,” he said. “They may want to change the balance of power from capital back to labor. But if they don’t agree with you on Israel, you don’t want them in your party.”
Fetterman, doubling down on his criticism of the left, responded by saying that people on the left, like members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), are “colonizing” the Democratic Party, quoting Bill Maher.
Later, Stewart says: “You’re literally saying, we can all have discussions except when it comes to Israel, except when it comes to Israel — which is not America. It seems like a weird line to draw.”
Fetterman responds by saying that the growing distaste toward Israel is a sign of people “turn[ing] their back to the Jewish community.”
“[The] Jewish community and Israel are not the same thing,” Stewart fires back.
Throughout the podcast, however, Fetterman continues on similar lines of attack against progressives and the left. Using Republican talking points, he falsely derides the left and organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America as “communists,” and says that he can’t support left-wing candidates because of their allyship with supposed “pro-Hamas” figures. He complains about “antisemitism” on college campuses and people who protest at his office against his support of the Gaza genocide, which he denies.
Stewart repeatedly argues that Fetterman is making a “caricature” of left-wing points in order to wage attacks on them. Stewart particularly takes umbrage when Fetterman says that people like Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed or Hasan Piker are “communists.”
“El-Sayed is running on — he wants to ban corporate money, wants higher taxes on billionaires for housing and education, Medicare for All. When you say that’s communism, that feels like a caricature,” Stewart says.
Stewart also addresses a remark from Piker that is commonly used to smear the left-wing streamer. Piker once said that the U.S. “deserved” the 9/11 attack because of its decades of conducting and funding radical violence in the Middle East; he has since apologized for that statement.
“Bill Maher said that the 9/11 terrorists weren’t cowards and you went on his podcast and you talked to him all the time,” Stewart said. “Aren’t you cherry picking certain things, and maybe losing the forest for the trees?”
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