Jon Stewart Rips Israel’s Bizarre ‘De-Escalation Through Escalation’ Strategy After ‘James Bond S**t’ Pager Attack

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart ripped Israel’s strategy of “de-escalation through escalation” in their ongoing war and their pager attack on members of the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Monday’s Daily Show, Stewart accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “wanton rocketing” and blasted President Joe Biden’s administration for continuing to talk up a potential ceasefire in Gaza while the conflict appears to be widening.

“Wait! We’ve been working tirelessly towards a ceasefire in Gaza and they’re in fucking Lebanon?” Stewart asked.

Stewart called exploding pagers being detonated to take out members of Hezbollah “James Bond shit” from the ’80s. The pager and walkie explosions have left dozens of Hezbollah members dead and hundreds wounded from the waves of attacks.

“What makes you think they’re going to accept your rocketing or whatever other James Bond shit you’ve been up to?” the comedian asked about Lebanon.

Stewart then played a clip of Axios politics and foreign policy reporter Barak Ravid telling CNN, “What the Israeli government is saying — and the Biden administration is in many ways subscribed to this idea — is de-escalation through escalation.”

Stewart was stunned by the description, saying, “De-escalation through escalation, where have I heard…” He then pulled out copies of George Orwell’s 1984, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, and then a collection of Garfield comics.

The Daily Show host eventually turned to clips of pundits slamming critics of Israel’s tactics as feeding antisemitism, something Stewart flatly rejected.

“Anti-semitism will survive this war like it survived all wars going back to the brave Hebrews at Masada. You know what? Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe blaming the Jews for the Black Death to the Spanish Inquisition to the space lasers will all go away if Israel does right, and peace will reign and people will no longer baselessly and conveniently blame Jews when things don’t work out exactly the way they want them to.”

Stewart then cut to a clip of former President Donald Trump recently saying that if he loses the election in November, Jewish voters will “have a lot to do with it.”

Watch above via Comedy Central.