Pete Davidson and SNL's perfect plea for humanity when comes to Middle East war

Don't lose your humanity.

When NBC’s Saturday Night Live announced in early October that comedian and SNL alum Pete Davidson would be the first host since the writer’s guild strike ended, no one could’ve predicted that the cold open of the show would be a moving commentary about a war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. But that is what we saw Saturday, as Davidson did something both unique and powerful. In a time when social media is filled with people saying they stand with one side or the other, Davidson instead made a plea to stand for humanity. 

SNL’s short cold open Saturday began with Davidson speaking directly to camera, “This week, we saw the horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza. He then added to a laugh, “And, I know what you’re thinking, who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson?”

From there, though, Davidson put aside comedy to remind us how terrorism had touched his own life: “Well, in a lot of ways, I am a good person to talk about it because when I was seven years old, my dad was killed in a terrorist attack. So, I know something about what that’s like.”  (Davidson’s father was one of the New York firefighters killed in the 9/11 terrorist attack.)

The 29 year-old Davidson then directly addressed the fighting in the Middle East, stating, “I saw so many terrible pictures this week of children suffering – Israeli children and Palestinian children – and it took me back to a really horrible, horrible place.”  The comedian continued, “No one in this world deserves to suffer, especially not kids.”

Davidson did not have to discuss the bloodshed in the Middle East nor did SNL have to replace its famed comedic opening sketch that typically addresses news from the week with a plea for humanity. But they did--and they did so knowing that any commentary on this subject could result in a backlash from countless people given how emotions are running high and so many are in pain. And I’m glad Davidson and SNL did.

The brutal terrorist attack by Hamas that has taken the lives of more than 1300 Israelis—including scores of children—has been unlike anything any of us have seen before in that conflict. President Joe Biden described the Hamas attack as “the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.”   And Hamas is holding an estimated 150 Israeli hostages in Gaza including children, with families tearfully taking to the media to plead to Hamas for the release of their loved ones.

In response, the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu—has responded by unleashing an attack upon Hamas in Gaza that we, too, have never seen before. As of Thursday, the Israeli Air Force has dropped approximately 6,000 bombs on Gaza, which is equivalent to all the bombs dropped by Israeli forces on Gaza in the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2014.

That explains why the death toll of civilians in Gaza is already staggering after just one week. The Palestinian Health Ministry has stated that  2,329 civilians have been killed and more than 9,000 injured since the conflict broke out a week ago.  Richard Brennan, a World Health Organization official in Cairo explained to CNN that 60% of those killed in Gaza the last week were women and children. And on Saturday, a UNICEF spokeswoman stated that the dead Palestinians include more than 700 children.

For context, the death toll of Palestinian civilians in just one week has already eclipsed all lost in the 50-day war in 2014. In that conflict—as the UN has noted-- 2,251 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military of which 1,462 of them are believed to be civilians, including 551 children. (66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians, including one child, were also killed in that war.)

Dreadfully, we are not close to the end of civilians in Gaza suffering in this conflict given the shortages of clean water and food and an imminent Israeli ground offensive.

It is in this context that Davidson made his plea for people to see the humanity of both Palestinian and Israeli children.  It’s a plea I’ve tried to make this week on my SiriusXM radio show and my social media with my repeated post: “Please don't lose your humanity. A child killed is a child killed regardless of their faith or race.”

In normal times, that would be an easy appeal to make but these are anything but normal times for people connected to the conflict by family, faith and/or heritage. My father is Palestinian and I have family in the West Bank. It has been painful to see the impact on Palestinian civilians over the years by Israeli government actions—from loss of freedoms to loss of land to loss of lives.  Yet there is no place for any defense of the horrific Hamas terrorist attack. However, we are seeing some people do just that.

I have countless Jewish friends who are grieving from the brutal Hamas terrorist attack that has shaken many of them to the core. I grieve with them as well in the name of humanity.

At the same time, my hope is my fellow Americans will not lose their humanity when they see innocent Palestinians in Gaza killed by the Israeli military strikes—especially children. There is no defending their killing—but again we are seeing some call for killing all Palestinians.

Near the end of SNL’s open, Davidson stated, “My heart is with everyone whose lives have been destroyed this week.” The hope is that in these difficult times, we can follow Davidson’s lead and all open our heart to those in pain. Resist the urge to become callous and cold, instead embrace humanity.

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