Jon Stewart, Sen. Fetterman clash over Israel ‘red line’: ‘That is not our country’

Sen. John Fetterman doubled down on his support for Israel in an interview with comedian Jon Stewart, who questioned what makes Israel the pol’s red line — inflammatorily saying, “That is not our country.”

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In a preview clip for Stewart’s podcast “The Weekly Show,” Stewart asked the Democratic Pennsylvanian why he insists that left-leaning Democratic candidates, specifically members of the Democratic Socialists of America, support Israel.

“You could agree with them 90%, but Israel is the red line?” Stewart asked.

“Absolutely,” the Pennsylvania Dem replied. “I can’t ever turn my back to Israel after where it’s at.”

“I mean no disrespect on this, but that is not our country,” Stewart said.

“You’re saying that these candidates may have great ideas for our economy. They may want to do the exact same thing you want to do, in terms of getting money out of politics. They may want to increase the social safety net. They may want to change the balance of power from capital back to labor, but if they don’t agree with you on Israel, you don’t want them in your party?”

Fetterman pushed back, saying, “Well, I don’t know who you’re referencing to, specifically.”

“No, I’m referencing what you just said,” Stewart replied.

When Fetterman challenged Stewart to “name one” politician who meets those qualifications, Stewart listed Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who won the Michigan Senate primary on Wednesday; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY); and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“What I’m saying is, like, if you are a DSA member, if you are a member of a specific political party, run under your own banner,” Fetterman said, insisting that socialists should not run as Democratic candidates.

“It’s just an organization. We have a two-party system. It’s like the Freedom Caucus in the Republican Party,” Stewart responded. “Even like [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani in New York is DSA, but there are things in the DSA platform that he disagrees with.”

“And I’m assuming there’s probably things in the Democratic platform that you might disagree with but you don’t disavow the entire thing. You’re literally saying, ‘We can all have discussions, except when it comes to Israel,’ which is not America. It seems like a weird line to draw,” he added.

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Fetterman disagreed, saying, “Well, I don’t think that’s weird, I think what history demonstrates is that when people … turn their back to the Jewish community, things end really badly.”

Stewart did a double take, jumping in: “Jewish community and Israel are not the same thing, brother man. That is not the same thing.”

Fetterman again insisted, “I’m always gonna stand with Israel and I’m always gonna vote and support whatever’s necessary to protect themselves and to prosecute Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, too.”

The senator – who has frequently clashed with the far-left of his party over their views on Israel and socialism – then argued that far-leftists “never said a peep” after Iran killed pro-democracy protesters.

Stewart questioned, “You think that the left is pro-Iran, not the country, but the regime?”

“What I’m saying though is like if anyone in the Democratic Party is fine with Iran building a nuclear bomb, I disagree with that person,” Fetterman replied.

Stewart responded, “I think most people are – again, I think you’re caricaturing the issue.”

Fetterman has repeatedly threatened to leave the Democratic Party over its declining support of Israel and bashed members of the DSA, recently calling Mamdani a “clown” for calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the Big Apple.

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