Oct
31

Hope for rational dialogue on ‘The Daily Show’

Sean Brooks Israel/Palestine 1 comment
Why is The Daily Show one of the only places on mainstream TV where we can hear such a rational dialogue about the Israeli/Palestinian issue?  Jon Stewart asks challenging questions to Anna Baltzer and Mustafa Barghouti, two leading peace activists, and they present their case very well.  An audience member tries to interrupt, but it does not take away from the interview and instead reinforces the need to give all sides a chance to contribute to a debate usually crowded out by more dogmatic and extremist points of view.
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Part two of this important, and at times incredibly funny, conversation can be found here.

It’s great also to see how much coverage the J Street conference received this week.  The New York Times today reported:

J Street has only a small fraction of the resources and membership of more established pro-Israel groups, like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and it remains unclear how potent it will be in presenting itself as an alternative. Nonetheless, it has had great success in quickly becoming a major reference point in the complicated debate over President Obama’s Middle East policy as well as the more emotional issue of the appropriate role for American Jews in supporting Israel.

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