Last night, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert played host to Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg to have a mostly serious discussion of Goldberg's much-debated magazine cover story, which examines Israel's potential plan to attack Iran. The faux-conservative host immediately demanded to know the how, why and when of the of the attack, before feigning surprise that, "for some reason [Israel appears] paranoid about [the] people who want them dead having a nuclear bomb." Goldberg explained that if Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu feels that his country is facing an "existential" crisis then "he will act" most likely within a year. Amid the generally earnest conversation, Colbert managed to keep the audience entertained with a well-placed circumcision joke.

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Erik Hayden