Joshua Doss is a political strategist and pollster with HIT Strategies. In his bio on the HIT strategies website, he "oversees the production of opinion research, political strategy, message development, and emerging consumer trends" and started his political career as a grassroots organizer in his hometown of Chicago.
Last night, he joined CNN NewsNight along with Scott Jennings, and Jennings pulled no punches when it came to who leads on human rights in the Middle East.
As I approach the end of a long but productive book release day, I’d like to congratulate my new friend @dossdiscourse for joining the REVOLUTION OF COMMON SENSE tonight regarding human rights in the Middle East. Took some guts to go against the grain but he did it. Mazel Tov!🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/fdKF7m1TMP
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 19, 2025
"To me, this is when we look our weakest," Doss said, "when we buddy up with people who have had abhorrent records on human rights violations, particularly towards the women in their country."
Doss is, of course, correct. And Jennings took this opportunity to make a great point, asking Doss directly, "This is a criticism of Islamic governments, is it not?"
"It might be," Doss replied.
"So who in the Middle East would you say is the most progressive on women's rights and other human rights?" Jennings asked.
Doss hesitated in his answer, saying, "That's so far from my point. I don't know how we ended up there."
But Jennings didn't stop until he made his point. "You said we're buddying up with people who are bad to women. Who's good to women?
While Doss stumbled to answer, Jennings broke the fourth wall and said, "It's Israel. We can answer it. It's Israel."
That's absolutely true. Women and others enjoy rights and legal protections not afforded to them in other Middle Eastern nations. This includes legal equality in civil/criminal courts, equal protection for inheritances, and anti-discrimination laws. They have representation in government, where women make up about 25 percent of the Knesset, compared with less than 10 percent in other Middle Eastern nations. They have high workforce participation, too. Likewise, gay marriage has been legal since 2022, and same-sex activity was legalized in 1963. Minorities in Israel, like Arab Israelis, also have full citizenship and voting rights and better legal protections than anywhere else in the Middle East.
And once again, Jennings shares a massive dose of common sense with his fellow panelists and CNN viewers.