It is truly remarkable, my friends Anna Baltzer (buy her book!) & Mustafa Barghouti have been on the Daily Show, and did an excellent job, I must say! But you need to make sure you watch the entire, unedited version, ok?
Anna, when we first met, in the West Bank village of Deir Ballut
So here is the video, some pictures of mine, and my suggestion of who he should have on the show next... (and while we watch these activists and others speaking out, don't forget about Mohammad Othman!)
and here it is put together, at IMEU
Here's some pictures from back in the day when I first met Anna and Mustafa in Palestine;
Anna takes a picture (which is in her book, page 84) at a demo in Mas'ha. On this day, the Israelis shot Gil Namati, an Israeli protestor, nearly killing him.
Dr. Barghouti in the village of Beit Sira, whose lands behind us are threatened by the Wall and settlers.
Dr. Barghouti speaking to Palestinians and International volunteers in the West Bank.
For those who cannot watch video right now, check this out;
Palestinian equal rights joins the progressive agenda on ‘The Daily Show’
by Adam Horowitz on October
As I entered the television studio, Aerosmith was blaring over speakers and the familiar set of The Daily Show stood empty. As can be expected, it looked much smaller in person, but everyone was excited regardless. A mixture of tourists, students and others filed in around an hour before shooting was to start. I noticed there were a few keffiyeh’s wrapped around some shoulders, a couple "Shalom" pins, and one cowboy hat covered in a huge Code Pink anti-war sticker. This was because of tonight’s guests – Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and Anna Baltzer. We were there to watch the struggle for Palestinian equal rights go prime time.
Throughout the day I had been hearing through the grapevine that The Daily Show was having second thoughts about doing the show as they had been getting pressure to cancel it. I sat towards the front, all the way to the left of the stage. In front of me was a pretty glamourous trio of three young people. The man directly in front of me wore his hair slicked back and a tailored black suit, while the woman he came in with was wrapped in a faux fur jacket that they promised wouldn’t bite. The third guy in their party had a shaved head and I noticed his jeans had a patch with an Israeli flag on it. In the pre-show tension it stood out, but it was the kind of thing you see everyday.
Slowly the studio filled up, and a warm up comedian came out to get the crowd going. Soon thereafter, Jon Stewart came out himself to take some pre-show questions. He seems to be as naturally funny as he appears on the show, and he answered questions about whether he had ever done the show stoned (no answer), or if Comedy Central ever exerts editorial control over the show (answer: Have you seen the things they show on this network?). Then the last question: "Jon, what do you think about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?" He kind of rolled his eyes, as if to say here we go, and said that this show had been different than shows in the past because they usually have to wait until after the show to get calls complaining, but this time the calls started beforehand. He said whenever he gets calls about Israel/Palestine, from either side, he treats them like calls from his grandmother (and he mimicked holding the phone away from his ear as he went about his business). The crowd laughed. It was time to start the show.