© TheDailyShow.cc.comJon Stewart, host of the Daily Show lets conscience be his guide on the subject of Israel's attacks on Gaza.
This Gaza war has brought a new level of American awareness of the pain of Palestinian civilians. And we have Jon Stewart to thank.
When I interviewed
The Daily Show's Jon Stewart two years ago for a documentary I co-directed,
The Muslims Are Coming!, one of the questions I posed to the talk show host was: Do you think your show has had an impact on issues?
Surprisingly, Stewart responded "no." At first, my co-director, Negin Farsad, and I thought Stewart was being unduly modest. But he was actually being sincere. Stewart went on to list issues he had railed against for years - such as media sensationalism - and noted that nothing tangible had changed despite his best efforts.
But if that question were put to Stewart today, honesty would compel him to answer that his efforts have changed the way many who follow him now view one issue: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Specifically, Stewart has raised awareness about the human toll that this conflict has inflicted upon Palestinian civilians.
I first noticed Stewart's efforts in January 2009 during the 22-day battle between Hamas and the Israeli military. That episode resulted in approximately 1,400 Palestinians being killed, of which human rights groups say
700 were civilians.
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