AJC to Trevor Noah: “You’re Ignoring the True Nature of Hamas”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris criticized The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah over his recent monologue comparing the Israel-Hamas conflict to when his younger brothers would fight him as a teenager.

Noah said during a May 11 segment, “If you are in a fight where the other person cannot beat you, how hard should you retaliate when they try to hurt you?” He added that when his younger brothers would try to pick a fight with him as a teenager, his mother would tell him to not “hit the kid back because they can’t hurt you. You’re a teenager, and the kid is four.” Noah also said he would ask himself “whether my response to this child was just or necessary.” He concluded the segment suggesting that he didn’t have the answers to the conflict.

Harris responded in a May 13 Times of Israel blog: “Your younger siblings were not plotting murder and wreaking societal havoc. You’re ignoring the true nature of Hamas, the fact that it’s been firing 1000s of missiles over the years, building cross-border terror tunnels, kidnapping Israelis, and foregoing development in Gaza to focus on damaging Israel.” He added that Noah is “downplaying the trauma of millions of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters” and is ignoring “the instrumentalization of Palestinian kids at the hands of a cynical Hamas regime that knows images of young victims will change the entire story for those who only see the photos, not the context.”

Additionally, Harris noted that Noah failed to ask the important question of how a country is supposed to conduct itself against a fanatical group that won’t respond to “traditional tools of diplomacy.”

Harris noted that Noah failed to ask the important question of how a country is supposed to conduct itself against a fanatical group that won’t respond to “traditional tools of diplomacy.”

“Israel was not reborn to be in permanent conflict,” Harris concluded. “The fact that six Arab countries now have normalized ties with Israel is a powerful reminder that peace is attainable, and that Israel is keenly on the lookout for partners. One day, that peace will be realized, I pray, with the Palestinians. But it won’t happen as long as Hamas rules Gaza, clings to its genocidal goals, and snookers well-meaning people abroad to believe it’s the victim in a conflict, alas, of its own making.”

Honest Reporting’s Emmanuel Miller also argued that Noah used “poorly thought out metaphors,” noting that “while Gaza is indeed significantly weaker than Israel, the terror groups there are funded and equipped with weapons by Iran. And as opposed to these parallels, Israeli civilians are actually being grievously wounded and killed by these rockets.”

Various Twitter users have also criticized Noah’s argument.

“If someone is shooting at you, but he is smaller than you, should you really protect yourself? I’m just asking the question,” Washington Examiner Magazine Executive Editor Seth Mandel tweeted.

“Trever Noah wasn’t so keen on proportionate force when he was justifying the South African police killing 34 miners,” Jerusalem Post senior editor Lahav Harkov tweeted, pointing to an old clip of Noah’s standup discussing the 2012 Marikana massacre, when South African police killed 34 miners who were on strike.

YouTube influencer Jonathan Morrison, on the other hand, praised Noah’s comments. “I’m not in a position to unfold it but no one should ok with the power contrast/what’s happening right now or defending Israel for murdering kids. Trevor Noah did a great job putting how I’ve felt into words.”

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