Jon Stewart uses the solar eclipse to talk about the war in Gaza on ‘The Daily Show’

The solar eclipse was the big event on Monday, but Jon Stewart had other things on his mind.

After joking about it at the start of his Daily Show monologue, the host used the event to segue into another milestone — the fact the war in Gaza is now six months old.

“As the war has grinded on, justice is beginning to seem more like cruelty,” says Stewart in the clip above. “But not to worry: America, shining city on a hill, is on the case with our universal values.”

Stewart proceeds to play clips of various U.S. politicians condemning the weaponisation of food, the repression of journalists, and the taking of land by Russia in Ukraine, before using completely different language to describe similar things happening in Gaza.

“The verbal gymnastics that the American government must undertake so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of a country we provide most of the weapons for is…gah!” says Stewart. “What the **** are we doing here? The subtext of all this is America knows this is wrong, but it apparently doesn’t have the courage to say it in a straightforward manner.”