“He talked about the ‘soul-crushing’ siege of Gaza, the occupation that has forced Palestinians to go through checkpoints to do anything at all, the perverse logic of trying to ‘get a war in’ just before Obama’s inauguration,” Pollack wrote. “When I watched this segment, I knew the earth was shifting. And I knew I had to thank Jon, and to make sure everyone I know watches this segment.”

In the segment entitled “Strip Maul,” a series of news clips are shown in which several politicians including Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed support for Israeli attacks that have killed over 900 in 17 days as of Monday, as necessary measures of self defense.

“Let me just phrase it for you — something that will bring it home,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, proposing an analogy in one clip. “If you’re in your apartment and some emotionally disturbed person is banging on the door screaming ‘I’m gonna come through this door and kill you,’ do you want us to respond with one police officer, which is proportional, or with all the resources at our command?”

“I guess it depends,” Stewart responded, “if I force that guy to live in my hallway — and make him go through checkpoints every time he has to (use the bathroom).”

Pollack compares Stewart’s comments to recent revelations expressed by Evanston, Ill. Rabbi Brant Rosen in his blog, rabbibrant.com.

“We good liberal Jews are ready to protest oppression and human-rights abuse anywhere in the world, but are all too willing to give Israel a pass,” Rosen wrote in a Dec. 28 entry. “It’s a fascinating double-standard, and one I understand all too well. I understand it  because I’ve been just as responsible as anyone else for perpetrating it.

Jewish Voice for Peace has created a website for viewers to fill out a pre-written thank you letter to Stewart, www.thankyoujonstewart.com.