The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Bombarded by Epstein Q's in Scotland, MAGA “Caddies” Provide Cover Back Home | Peter Beinart

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Jon Stewart dives into Trump's golf shenanigans in Scotland, the Republican “caddies” providing him cover on the Epstein scandal back home, and the possibility of a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Plus, Jessica Williams will NOT allow Beyoncé to be roped into Trump’s use of exceptional Black people as a distraction. Editor-at-large of "Jewish Currents," who writes "The Beinart Notebook" on Substack, Peter Beinart sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss his book, "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning," and speaking out against Israel. They talk about learning from Jewish history to be the saviors rather than the oppressors, America and the UN’s failure to hold Benjamin Netanyahu accountable, the urgency of engaging in critical discourse with other Jews, and how listening to Palestinian stories can illuminate the dehumanizing conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Jon Stewart! Hi everybody! Sometimes I forget, I forget sometimes, I have no band. I do the band thing. Boom. Welcome to the Daily Show. My name is John Stewart.

We've got a show for you tonight, a great show, a great show for you tonight. Author Peter Beiner will be here later to discuss. We will be discussing Israel and Gaza. So you know, start your angry emails now. But let's begin tonight with a young man by the name of Donald Aloysius Romp. As you know, this young man has been embroiled in the Jeffrey Emsteen sex trafficking scandal and did what anybody who is innocent when facing an accusation of this type, did what anybody who was innocent would do, he he he fled the country. He fled the country taking a jaunt to Bonnie Old Scotland.

That's probably not the right accent. To leave his troubles in the United States behind and finally gain an ocean's distance between himself and the Epstein scandal and focus on his new trade deal with the EU. I'm sorry, yes, you there, from the Inverness Castle Times. Mr. President, was it part of the rush to get this deal done to knock Jeffrey Epstein's story out?

Oh, you got to be kidding with that. Don Trump, he's all like, how did you even hear about it? I thought you guys just got Baywatch like three months ago. Doesn't anybody here have a question about this trade deal sinking both of our economies with tariffs? How high do I have to make the tariffs before you guys shut the f*** up about Epstein? But of course, how do you expect the media to move on when even Trump has trouble doing so? So it was on the day of striking a trade deal with the EU, Donald Trump presented once more,

this time for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, his classic Epstein defense, 13 reasons why I'm not involved with the pedophile. Those files were run by the worst scum on earth. If they had something, they would have released. Now they can easily put something in the files that's a phony. Which is why I can't release it. It's simple. If I, Donald Trump, was in the files they would have released it so clearly I'm not in the files but of course I'm clearly in the files. Which makes them phony. I mean, what do they even have on Trump?

A creepy drawing Trump gave to Epstein? Please. I don't do drawings. I'm not a drawing person. Your Honor, I submit to the court, if there is one thing I would never do, it is draw. As you know, I suffer from tiny hands. I cannot physically even perform the task of drawing. I do not possess the motor skills and muscle strength required.

Oh. I cannot draw, not now, not ever, I cannot draw, not now, not ever, although sometimes people say, would you do a building and I'll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity, but I'm not a drawing person. I don't do drawings of women.

That I can tell you. I mean, sometimes people would say, would you draw a woman? I'd draw parentheses for breasts and a triangle for bush for charity. For charity. I wouldn't call them drawings. More of a cubist pastiche

of punctuation and geometric shapes to trick the eye. Some would see a naked woman, of course, others would see an old woman holding a falcon, riding a hoverboard with a triangle for a vagina. Look, the point is this. I don't draw. In Trump's defense, he did end his relationship

with Epstein in the aughts. Perhaps a look into why he ended it will exonerate Trump. That's such old history. Very easy to explain, but I don't want to waste your time by explaining it. He did something that was inappropriate. What he said was Epstein had done something inappropriate and that's why they're no longer friends. You see Donald Trump recognized that Epstein had finally crossed a line. Now, if it were me, obviously, giving this explanation in front of reporters,

I probably would have stopped there. But... since I am not, Trump went on to describe Epstein's inappropriate behavior, and wait till you hear what was the Rubicon that Epstein crossed. He hired help and I said don't ever do that again. He stole people that work for me.

I said don't ever do that again. He did it again and I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. Yes. You all know him as Jeffrey Epstein, the sex trafficker. But I knew his dark side. He was... I mean, the sex trafficking, I was like, okay. But he was also a low-level employee poacher.

And that, I cannot add. Anyway, Mr. President, do you want to slice this bologna any thinner? By the way, I never went to the island, and Bill Clinton went there supposedly, uh, 28 times. You expect me to believe that Bill Clinton went to the island only 28 times? No way. I mean, if anybody had VIP diamond island status, there's probably still parrots alive on that island going, hey, Bill, back again.

Hey, Bill. Hey, Bill. How you doing, Bill? What's up, Bill? But here comes... Yeah. It's okay. It's okay. I'm okay. That is truly the best powered impression you'll hear. Here comes my favorite part of the defense. Trump's ego and narcissism are so central to his being that even his denial of going

to the island comes with a caveat. I never had the privilege of going to his island and I did turn it down. The privilege? The f***? Hey Donald, wanna go to the island this weekend? Well, first of all Jeffrey, thank you for thinking of me. Unfortunately, that's the weekend that the teen pageant that I bought is installing the indoor security locker room cameras. Really?

But luckily for Trump, it wasn't all Epstein-related pressers. He was able to get in some of his beloved Whac-a-Ball. Mr. Trump, are you enjoying the Scottish hospitality? Are you enjoying the Scottish hospitality? Are you enjoying the Scottish hospitality? See, there you are, are you enjoying? Get in my belly, are you enjoying? There you go, that's what it's about. That's gotta soothe Trump's soul.

Mr. Trump, can you escape the Jeffrey Epstein crisis? Is Epstein what they yell in Scotland instead of four? Epstein! Boy, this is tough. To extend the golf metaphor, instead of four? Epstein? Boy, this is tough. To extend the golf metaphor, Trump finds himself in the rough. But he's a championship-caliber golfsman, battle-tested. And I think we all know how the best golfers in the world get out of a bad lie.

Donald Trump being busted cheating at golf. We can see a caddy dropping a ball there for the president while he played at one of his courses in Scotland. When the going gets tough, the tough pay someone to cheat for you. But this moment on the course, seemingly random, could not be more representative of Trump's entire existence. He moves with complete confidence in this world because he requires that everyone in his orbit do whatever they can, including cheating, to ensure that things go Trump's way. This has been his whole life.

Don't want to go to Vietnam? Get a podiatrist friend in the family to bone spur you up. Your casino is failing? Perhaps daddy can illegally float you three million in chips to try and save it. Impeached for an attempted coup? Your caddy today is the Kentucky Fried Reaper. And... And...

But... Never like to speak ill of the dead. Why would you even say that? And obviously for the Epstein case, Trump has no shortage of caddies willing to shame themselves. Here's Congressman Tim Bershett, pre-Trump, being named in the files. Congressman, why do you think so many Democrats are committed to protecting the list of a dead pedophile?

Too many of my colleagues, I'm afraid, are compromised in this area for whatever reason. The trash can is very deep. It's not a swamp. It's an open sewer. It's a sewer. Democrats are all over the plane logs. It's an open sewer. I'm sorry, Trump was also on Epstein's plane.

Need a ball drop over here? President Trump admitted that he flew on his dagum plane. Just because somebody flew on a plane doesn't mean they're a dagum pedophile. Wow, you know what? I always find that the worse it is, the folksier they get. Well, well, Mr. Trump, he's not a dagum gosh darn dag nabbit pedophile. I mean, kiss my grits, I don't.

I'll guarantee you, he's not using that terminology in other sex offender cases. Well gosh darn, if Diddy ain't two biscuits short of a country biscuit. He's two biscuits short of a country biscuit, but that don't make everyone at the freak-off crackle-barrel-ous. I honestly think my favorite thing about this

is watching conspiracy theorists have to unravel the red string that they themselves originally strung out. Here's the OG conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck at his excitement for Trump's beginning of the second term. The only thing I care about is the scandal of the pedophiles, and in the next 10 days you're going to see the Epstein file released. Day number one, Cash Patel walks in.

By the end of the day, it will be released. Day one! Deep state exposed. Oh, I'm sorry, Trump's in the rough? I'll get right on that ball drop. What the left is saying, and some people now on his team are saying, he's in the report. With 15-year-olds?

Really? Do you actually believe that? Yes. I have seen some clips that would be consistent with it. Did buy a teenager. I have seen some clips that would be consistent with it. Did buy a teenage beauty pageant. But listen, Beck, you're the master at making connections, so let's see you unconnected. I mean, let's be honest.

Twenty years ago, if this was like, hey, he was on an island with 25-year-old models, I would be going, probably. 15, 16-year-olds, that's not Donald Trump. It's not Donald Trump. I don't believe that. Do you? I say, that's, no way that's true. What? No! You're not, there's no magic X. You can't just magic X conspiracy theories.

White people being replaced by voting illegal immigrants? No! The X has spoken. But of course Trump's cadotes can't do everything, and it's given Democrats hope that they finally have Donald Trump. For so long, the Democrats have been Wile E. Coyote to Donald Trump's Road Runner. The Democrats thought they had Trump

with the felony convictions. They thought they had Trump with the access Hollywood tape, but every time he got away. But now, with the reporting on the Epstein files, the only way that this guy wiggles out of this one is if for some reason convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell swears under oath that Trump had nothing to do with it. But why would she do that? Coyote, you finally got the road, brother. Mr. President, if you could rule out a pardon for Elaine Maxwell when you landed, is that something you would ever consider?

Pardon for who? For Elaine Maxwell. Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon. Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon Meep meep But now of course Of course Until the pardon happens there is other stuff Trump can do President Trump went on truth social last night and said that Beyoncé, Oprah, and Vice President Kamala Harris should all be prosecuted for receiving or giving endorsement money

during the last election. That's right, Trump is now calling for the imprisonment of all the most popular people in the country and Kamala Harris. And the most concerning thing about this is that- Oh no, oh no, no, no. Not Beyonce, John. That is some bullshit right there. Oh my God.

And ladies and gentlemen, it's Jessica Williams. I can't believe it! This is so exciting! My God! It's...it's Emmy nominee Jessica Williams. Wait, Jessica, where are you? I'm in Scotland, John. What? And I am here because I have had it with Trump.

He's got to come clean about Epstein. I am sick of this. I agree. He's been doing this for weeks, though. How much longer can he avoid talking about it? I mean, obviously, it depends on how many black people he has left. Why do black people matter? Why do black people matter, John?

No, no, no. What the fuck, dude? Well, John, we still got a lot of work to do. I know, and I will take this time to listen. Reflect. But I meant why do they matter to the Epstein story? It's because Trump is trying to throw every black person he can think of in front of this scandal to distract us.

First he released the Martin Luther King Jr. files, then he accused Obama of treason, and now he wants to prosecute Oprah and Beyoncé? The nerve, John, the nerve. He's coming after all of our greatest black people. Who's next, Michael Jordan, Michael B. Jordan, Michael C. Jordan? Jessica, who? I'm sorry, who is Michael C. Jordan?

I don't know, John, but he better watch his back. I'm scared for him. Trump is going to target every exceptional black person he can think of. We're about a week away from him saying that Urkel did 9-11. Urkel! Did he do that? No, John, no, he didn't.

He was nowhere near the towers that day. He was nowhere near the towers that day. He was nowhere near them. Whoo! I'm good. Honestly, like, seriously, I just hope this whole thing wraps up before Trump gets to me. Jessica, don't...

God, I hate to even hear you talk. Don't be nervous, Jessica. Trump isn't gonna come after you. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Excuse me? He won't come after me? What, I'm not an exceptional enough black person for Trump? I'm not famous enough to be publicly accused of treason or doing 9-11?

You don't know where I was that day. You don't know me. I'm sorry, but I'm nominated for an Emmy for supporting actress in a comedy. I'm sorry. You're very good. You're very good in that show. I can at least be accused of misdemeanor election fraud, you butt head.

I'm sorry. Of course you'd be on that list. Oh, okay. But like, where on that list? Above Urkel? Technically, I'm just below Urkel for now. Look, Jessica, and I mean this sincerely. You are notable enough for Donald Trump

to accuse you of treason, to distract from a pedophilia scandal. Oh, John, that is just so sweet. Thank you so much. It's really nice. Now, doesn't that make you nervous? No. We have a fail-safe. Trump is so desperate for black approval, one compliment, we're off the prosecution list

and in the Oval Office being named Secretary of Hood. Because if there's one thing old white guys love, it's getting a compliment from a black person. I'm not sure you can generalize all old white people. Oh, wait. Oh, my God. John, I meant to say I, like, love your haircut. Are you serious? Yeah. You know, I asked for a fa... Did you ask for a fade?

You proved your point, Williams. Did I do that? Take that, Urkel! Jessica Williams, everybody! We'll be back here, but I know we'll be joining us. Don't go away. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You proved your point, Williams. Did I do that? Take that, Urkel! Jessica Williams, everybody! When we come back, Peter Beiner will be joining us. Don't go away. Oh, here we go. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. He writes the Beinart Notebook on Substack, and he's the author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, a Reckoning. Please welcome to the program Peter Beinart Notebook on Substack, and he's the author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, a Reckoning.

Please welcome to the program Peter Beinart. Sir. Thank you for joining us. You are Jewish. I am Jewish. People yell at me about what I say sometimes about Palestine and what's going on in Israel and they call me a bad Jew. Apparently, you can lose points. What are you experiencing as someone who

is writing very clearly about your upset at what is occurring in Gaza? Well I have lost you know some pretty close friends over this but I also don't worry about having to feed my kids. They're not starving. Right. They're not being killed. I have freedom. I really have an incredibly fortunate and blessed life. And even though, you know, it's hard sometimes to have other Jews really not like me because Judaism is everything to me.

It's at the center of my life. I've also met so many other people from so many different walks of life who who care about the same things that I do, who believe that all human beings are created in the image of God. And I know a lot of people caricature a lot of these people who care about Palestinian rights and freedom as like being anti-Semitic. But to be honest, the vast, vast majority of people I meet, they strike me as like the kind of people who would have stuck up for us when we were in trouble, you know? The kind of people who are willing to up for us when we were in trouble, you know? The kind of people who are willing to risk something

because when they see people suffering and being abused, they act and those are the people who I wanna be around. You know, you bring up such an interesting point because it does cut to the idea of who qualifies as a good Jew and a bad Jew. And admittedly, I don't know all the different things in the nuance of the history here or what happened in 93 at the agreement

that might have turned, but I know what I'm seeing. And I have a moral clarity about what I'm seeing. And what I'm seeing, I think, as someone who was raised in Judaism, that's what taught me that this is wrong. What I'm seeing happening in Gaza is wrong. You know, we learn, and Judaism is funny, you know, you learn that you're the underdog. That's kind of the history.

Right, right. You know, I always looked at the chosen people as kind of a rye. You know, when you read the history of the Jews, you're like, you're the chosen people. And you want to say to God, like, if you could choose someone else. I mean, I mean.

But what happens when David becomes Goliath? And the responsibility there, is that what troubles you? Yeah, I mean, our responsibility is to remember, is to remember what was done to us, to remember what we would have wanted people around the world. I'm not saying that what's happening in Gaza is the equivalent of the Holocaust or anything like that, but what's happening in Gaza is bad enough. But it's not, I mean, it may be a slow mo-, you know, I saw an article in the Times, Brett Stevens, I think, and his argument was, this can't be a genocide because Israel's so strong, they could kill them

much quicker. And I thought, well, that's the most cynical description of a military siege and a purposeful starvation that I've ever seen in my life. I mean, even Israel's leading human rights organization, but Salem has just come out with a report saying, they believe this is genocide. So it seems to me, if we want to remember our history,

if we want to honor those in our own families of our people who were slaughtered and who were genocided, who were starved to death while nobody in the world cared, our obligation is to care. Our obligation is to risk something. Yeah. I've been... Listen, man. This has rocked my... I feel like a crazy person. I feel like I'm watching something

that is so self-evidently inhumane and horrific and to be told that I have to shut up I think they're putting the likelihood of a surviving Jewish state much more at risk with this type of action. I think they're the ones that are being anti-Semitism. If you wanted to find Netanyahu, you could find him. But I think that's the only way to get to the bottom of this. I think that's the only way to get to this type of action. I think they're the ones that are being anti-Semitism. If you wanted to find Netanyahu,

the definition of anti-Semitism would probably have to bomb himself. I mean, you know... Yeah. Martin Luther King said that white and black Americans were bound up in a single garment of destiny, right? Palestinians and Israeli Jews, and in some ways Jews around the world,

were bound up in a single garment of destiny. If we want Israeli Jews to be safe, and I care passionately about the safety of Israeli Jews, in the long term, Israeli Jews are only going to be safe if Palestinians are going to be safe. And Palestinians can't be safe unless they're free. If they're under oppression, if they live under conditions that even Israel's own human rights organizations

called apartheid, they are suffering radical amounts of violence all the time, even before October 7th. Do we think when we think about all these kids in Gaza who are watching their parents starving to death, who are watching dozens of their family members being killed, is that good for Israel? Is that good for Israeli Jews in the long term? How you treat people has an impact on how they treat you.

And if you want Israeli Jews to be safe, Palestinians also have to be safe. How does the... And look, listen, this is a tough conversation because we are two people that I think see this situation very similarly. I obviously see it from a more secular perspective because I am, even before Gaza, a bad Jew. Like first night of Passover for me was like meatball parmesan hero.

Like I was not good, I was not good. I was not good. But you see, you know, all of our holidays, the entire ethos for me of being Jewish, and I don't doubt that there are people that have a radically different interpretation than I do, but it's all about, about like we were about to be wiped out. We were in a cave. We had three days of oil and then suddenly the Maccabees overcame it all or Purim, you know Esther she was almost destroyed by Haman and the Jewish people were but she went to Mordecai and now we wear costumes and do,

like, it was always like, oh, they almost got us, but wait. Right, right. It's more complicated than that, isn't it? It's true, because if you really, if you read the Hebrew Bible, if you read the Talmud, what you see is that our religious texts describe us in the full range of humanity.

We're human beings. Nothing human is alien to us. We can be horribly victimized, and our texts talk about that. But the end of the Book of Esther, from which the Purim story comes, also ends with a massacre by Jews of the Jews' enemies. The story of Hanukkah and the story of the Hazmoneim, who became the Maccabees, became in power, it moves from them liberating the Jewish people to them becoming oppressors themselves.

So part of recognizing us as human, as Jews, as fully human, is recognizing that we are capable of being victims and being victimizers. And we have to recognize that in order to prevent us from falling into the trap of thinking that every single situation is the equivalent of what was happening in the Tsarist Russia or in Nazi Germany. In some situations, the power dynamic is reversed.

In Israel-Palestine, it's Jews who all enjoy legal supremacy and citizenship and Palestinians who are denied basic rights. And we have to recognize that that's possible and we have to fight against it for our own sake and for the sake of our honor. How do we get past those conversations with fellow Jewish people? Like, I feel like it's been shut down,

that they're horrified by things that I would say about the injustice of it all. And I feel like I don't know how to talk to even friends of mine that have gone there. And I imagine they feel the same way about me. But there's an urgency about it now because like right now in this situation, we can't be like, but Jews are not getting along with other Jews. That's not the important thing.

How is the world not stepping in and stopping this atrocity? I don't understand this in any way, shape, or form. It's boggling my mind. It's worse than just not stepping in. It's our weapons that are enforcing this siege, that is enforcing this mass starvation. In November of 2024, something like eight months ago, the International Criminal Court,

the issued a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu for the war crime of starvation, right? Eight months ago. Eight months ago. And the United States responded by trashing the International Criminal Court, even under Biden, and then under Trump imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court. And so the message to Israel was very clear.

You can get away with worse. And so then for almost three months in this, early this year, Israel cut off all food, all medicine, all water into the Gaza Strip. Wasn't... It's a siege. It's a military siege. Yes, that we are deeply complicit in. It could not happen without us. Then why can't we use our leverage?

Surely, the United States can't believe that this is in the best interest of the region. And when Donald Trump says something like, finish the job, what job is he talking about? What does that mean? Well, I mean, the Trump plan made it pretty clear the mass expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza and that is official Israeli but do you believe in the people of Israel would Would second that there must be a robot there

There are there are many Israelis who are appalled by this, absolutely. But the problem is, when a leader like Netanyahu can get away with this again and again and again, it actually makes him stronger. The way to weaken Netanyahu at home will be to show Israelis that when Netanyahu does these brutal things to the Palestinians, it actually, that there are consequences. Not consequences in human lives.

I don't want an Israeli to die, but there have to be some consequences so Israelis see that this is not good for them. But it feels like they are not capable of being the arbiters of this dispute. It feels like the occupying power is not allowed to dictate the terms of freedom for the people they occupy.

That seems inherently illegal. I don't understand how the world doesn't step in and separate these two factions. It's not even, I don't even want to call it a war. It's a guerrilla operation facing an actual army with planes and bombs. Right. And to be clear, I know you agree. What Hamas did on October 7th was despicable. These were war crimes. But the thing we have to ask ourselves is,

how does Israel react? How does America, how do America react when Palestinians fight for their freedom in an ethical way, in a way that respects the lives of Israelis? In 2018, there was a mass march, overwhelmingly nonviolent, in Gaza. Palestinians did exactly what we wanted them to do. They behaved like gandis.

And did people applaud? No, Israel put sharpshooters with American weapons on the fence and shot thousands of people, so many people that the Gaza had to start an amputee soccer team after that. When they do nonviolent boycotts, we criminalize the boycotts. When they go to the international criminal court, we criminalize the boycotts. When they go to the International Criminal Court,

we sanction the International Criminal Court. We essentially send the message to Palestinians that nonviolent protests, that ethical protests, resistance doesn't work, and that makes it easier for Hamas to commit the crimes that they did on October 7th. You know, it's a situation... And look, and I know what the pushback is. Israel ceases to exist if this doesn't occur.

But I remember, look, I was raised in the story of Israel being necessary for the safety of Jews, which, by the way, if that's the case, we have a much bigger problem in this world than anything else. The idea that a people have to have an armed fortress of a homeland just to be safe living in this world is an absolute failure of humanity in the first place. But I remember Ariel Sharon withdrew from Gaza and Hamas took over. And I remember thinking like, oh, this is going to be, what an interesting moment of opportunity.

You almost have an experiment set up. You have, here's what happens to the Palestinians if they choose a radical route, Hamas. But in the West Bank, here's what happens to you if you choose a more moderate. And what happened in the West Bank then was not the flourishing of rights. It was the building of more settlements. It was the empowering of settler violence. It was the crushing of the Palestinians authority to do anything. And I understand, you know, it felt like that was the moment that hope was removed in any real way.

For me, that's when I went, oh, I think I don't believe anymore. I mean, the most pop, the Palestinian politician who Israelis loved the most was a guy named Salam Fayyad. He was the most moderate Palestinian leader, the most opposed to any armed resistance at all. And when he left Palestinian politics in 2013, he did an interview and he basically said,

"'Israel has defeated me. "'I did everything they wanted. "'I couldn't stop settlement growth for a single day.'" And he said, you know who's gonna be empowered by this? Hamas, right? If you actually want to keep Israeli Jews safe and you want to weaken Hamas and you wanna make sure that a terrible day

like October 7th never happens again, you need to stop criminalizing and killing Palestinians who fight for their freedom in accordance with international law in an ethical way. But our government and the Israeli government do exactly the opposite. How, Peter, it's to me, like I can, if there's Jewish people who are conservative thinking a different way out there who are right now boiling with rage at us. And I truly do want to understand, like, is it that they think their existence

and the existence of Israel is fragile to the point where that disagreement puts them at risk or that we're not understanding just how hard they've bent over backwards to make this work? Because that's the part that I don't see. Like, well, we gave the Palestinians every chance and they didn't take it, so now we get to do whatever we want.

Right. I mean, what I would say to those people who are living in the United States is like, what are we basing our safety on? The safety of our children. We're basing our safety on the idea of equality under the law, the idea of a government that treats people equally, irrespective of their religion or ethnicity or race. That's what our...

That's what most Americans should believe keep us safe. So why would we not believe it was right for Jews in Israel as well? When you treat people equally under the law and you don't submit one group of people to brutal racism and oppression, you have... everybody is safer, because everyone can participate in government.

And I don't understand why it is that some American Jews think that equality under the law is right for us, but wrong in Israel and Palestine. They would say that they have it. They would say that they have it. I've heard them say it. They've said it to me. They've said to me, you don't understand Arab Israelis.

They're doctors. I know, right. But this is why we need to listen to Palestinians. Right. This is why it's such a problem that Palestinians are so rarely on the mainstream media. It's why it's a problem in our community that Palestinians are not invited to speak in synagogues,

that kids aren't given books by Palestinians in Jewish schools and Jewish camps. Because when you listen to Palestinians, you stop just talking always about Palestinians and telling them, and listen to Palestinians talk about their own lives, you realize how brutal the experience has been. And you also begin to understand how dehumanizing

the discourse of always talking about them without listening to them. Have you ever been able to broach this with someone who believes as vehemently on the other side, have you ever found a way in that allowed you to. To to fully explain the passion that you feel for this and why you think it's so devastating. And have you had them hear you with not necessarily changing of the mind, but with a grace that doesn't accuse you

somehow of undercutting the entirety of our people? not necessarily changing of the mind, but with a grace that doesn't accuse you somehow of undercutting the entirety of our people. I would say the thing that I've seen has the biggest impact on people is not anything that I say. It's actually going and seeing for themselves. And it's actually encountering what it's like to live for Palestinians their entire lives under the control of a state that has life and death power over them, but over which they have no influence

because they can't be a citizen, they can't vote, they need military permission to travel around, they live under military law with a 99% prosecution rate. When you stop just talking about Palestinians and you go and see and you listen to them and you face their humanity and you could imagine yourself being in their shoes and you see what Israel has done to them,

that's what I find changes people. Right. Well, Peter, I tell you, this... It's a painful book. Not gonna lie. It is a painful book, but I think it's an important book, and I think people should read it. And, look, make up your own minds.

You're not gonna, you know, us two talking about it is not going to do that much but being Jewish after the destruction of Gaza is available now. Peter Beiner, thank you for being here. Thank you. It's amazing. That's our show for tonight. But before we go, we're going to check in with your host for the rest of the week, Desi Lyde.

Desi, what's on deck? Come on. Talk. Tell. Tell. Tell the people what's on deck for next week. Well, John, we'll be breaking down President Trump's outrageous 15% tariff on Europe. Americans will now have to pay more for their European products we love.

French wines, German cars, Romanian butt cream, Italian olive oil. It's absurd. I'm sorry. I don't want to jump in. Wine and olive oil. It's absurd. I'm sorry, I don't want to jump in. There's wine and olive oil. Did you say Romanian butt cream? Yes, yes I did. Yeah. Why, do you use American butt cream? I don't use any butt cream.

And it shows. Does he lie to you ladies and gentlemen? Here it is. He trundled over the golf course here to a soundtrack, a number of songs that he had picked. Let me tell you, we heard Uptown Girl first, as he stood right there, teeing off. Then we had Elaine Page from the musical Cats

with the song Memories. And then probably the most eyebrow raising moment of all was Bridge Over Troubled Water. Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central

and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.