Plot
The main cast introduces the episode out of character by paying tribute to those affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks and informing viewers about what to expect from the delayed premiere of the third season. The cast also makes it clear that this episode is, in some regards, outside the West Wing continuity - although it recalls previous events that have happened throughout the series (e.g. the Rosslyn shooting), it does not take place after or resolve storylines from the previous episode.
In the episode, the White House is "crashed" due to a staff member having the same name as a known alias of a person on a terrorist watch list. The lockdown leaves a group of students selected for Presidential Classroom stuck in the mess hall with Josh while other staffers—and the President and First Lady—drop in to join the discussion about terrorism. Meanwhile, Leo and Ron Butterfield interrogate the staff member. The episode tackles issues of race, religion, and intolerance, with characters explaining to the students that Muslim terrorists are a small minority with an extreme interpretation of their religion and with the interrogated staff member angrily responding to Leo's racist comments by reminding him that it had been white supremacists who fired on the presidential party, not Islamic terrorists.
The episode's title stems from Abraham and his two sons Isaac and Ishmael in the Book of Genesis, and how the story explains the source of the conflicts between Jews and Arabs. The First Lady relates the story after one of the students asks "how did all this start?".
Read more about this topic: Isaac And Ishmael
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