The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel sent ripples throughout the Western world. While many mourned the victims and condemned the terrorists, anti-Semites came out to denounce Israel and praise Hamas.
FBI Director Christopher Wray
Warned He said anti-Semitism in the United States was approaching “historic levels” as student extremists backed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas have rallied on college campuses and taken to the streets to chant genocidal slogans and peddle anti-Israel rhetoric.
Republicans in Congress uniformly condemned the attack and the anti-Semitism that followed, and while some Democrats sided with Israel and the Jewish people against terrorists, those on the left, like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and her Democratic allies, joined the chorus of pro-Hamas demonstrators calling for Israel’s demise.
After observing this, Bill Maher
Sunday’s episode Speaking on the podcast Club Random, he argued that the anti-Semitism currently on full display is a product of the American right.
Later in a relatively inoffensive conversation about relationships, family and comedy, the comedian
Democratic Party supporterstold Maher that her Jewish ancestors emigrated to the United States to escape the pogroms in Russia.
“Can you feel it coursing through your veins?” Maher asked.
“Yeah,” Bernhard said, “but let me tell you something: I’m not like that. Everybody resents being Jewish. All of a sudden, everybody discovers Judaism. I grew up Jewish. I had a bat mitzvah. I went to Hebrew school. I did it all. I love being Jewish.”
“Suddenly everyone’s saying, ‘I’m Jewish and I’m being persecuted.’ I don’t feel persecuted,” Bernhardt said.
“Okay, maybe we’re not being persecuted, but we’re seeing anti-Semitism in this country that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Maher said, “and I never thought we’d see this day.”
“It’s coming from the right wing.”
“I’ll tell you where it comes from,” Bernhardt said. “It’s coming from the right wing. It’s coming from the right wing, the far right.”
“No, I’m not,” Mr. Maher replied without hesitation.
“You think that [the] “Left?” Bernhard asked.
“Anti-Semitism is on both sides,” Maher said. “It’s even worse on the left. … It comes from elite universities that only see everything through a racial lens. They’re stupid. They don’t know history. They think it’s all about colonialists and racists and how America is terrible.”
“None of it matches the facts.”
Maher seemed keen to extend a conciliatory hand to the extremists, saying: “America has done bad things, but dragging Israel into being a mouthpiece for every bad thing white people have ever done is no more complicated for most college students than it is for Palestinians to be brown and poor and Israelis to be rich and white, even though half of them are not rich and certainly not white.”
“They think because they’re rich and white they’re colonialists, apartheidists and genocidalists. None of this corresponds to the facts,” the presenter added.
“But can we all agree that Benjamin Netanyahu is a terrible obstructionist and needs to be kicked out of Israel? He’s not good for Israel. He’s not good for the Jewish people. He’s also fostered global distrust…. He is entirely responsible for everything that’s happening now,” Bernhardt said.
“He is not to blame for all that is happening,” Maher countered. “It is the fault of the Palestinian people and Islam. Islam and the Palestinians are being forgotten in all this, even though we are fighting.”
“What?” Bernhard interjected.
“Hamas bears the main responsibility.”
“Islam,” Maher replied. “Have you heard of it?”
“What does that mean? What does that have to do with anything?” Bernhardt asked.
“You say Prime Minister Netanyahu is most responsible, but it is Hamas that is most responsible,” Maher added.
The presenter went on to suggest that the country’s current predicament is the result of terrorist groups spending years of foreign aid to buy bombs and dig tunnels, rather than feeding the hungry and building proper medical facilities.
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