CNN’s Fareed Zakaria traveled to HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday to discuss the Israel-Hamas War and raising anti-Semitism on college campuses, the latter of which he tried to blame on Christians.
Maher wondered why, of all the conflicts, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gets such an emotional reaction out of young people. He concluded that, “It's got to be something about the Jews themselves because there are other people around the world who are oppressed, there are other 'colonized' places not that Israel colonized anything, but why this one place, why does this arouse especially among young people – I mean young people who hated to Trump because he wouldn't condemn the people with the Tiki torches, talking about Jews -- you're the one with the Tiki torches now.”
Zakaria confessed it is a question he has thought bout himself and after explaining how such anti-Semitism “way the most powerful justification for the state of Israel,” he declared, “It is the ultimate justification, why it happens is sadly it is the oldest bigotry known to man. I mean it comes out of, you know, the Christian ideas about, you know, Jews killing Christ—”
An incredulous Maher interrupted to correctly point out, “That's not what college kids think, college kids are not hating the Jews—”
Immediately backtracking, Zakaria declared:
No, no, no, but it-- I think, what happens is there's just this, you know, upsurge. You have all kinds of different people doing it for all kinds of different reasons and I think it just reminds you that-- I hear people say we should, you know, ban this kind of speech and there is now laws in France for example-- I don't know that's the answer. I think the answer is to educate people, to understand this is gross, ancient bigotry but civilized people shouldn't believe this kind of thing. That, you know, that’s the part that's most worrying.
As for the war itself, earlier in the segment, Zakaria’s co-panelist, Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group, proclaimed, “the ability of the Israelis is to defend themselves today, their military superiority is great but there's no strategic reason why Israel needs to obliterate Hamas today. They could actually—they could wait and get humanitarian support but, it's very hard to say that.”
Ian Bremmer tells Bill Maher "there's no strategic reason why Israel needs to obliterate Hamas today...they could wait and get humanitarian support but, it's very hard to say that." pic.twitter.com/hUsmj9FXkQ
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 4, 2023
Bremmer would go onto to say that if Israel continues down the road it is on, it would be like the father who got sent to jail for murdering the guy who raped his daughter. The problem with that analogy is that nobody from “the international community” is coming to arrest Hamas. As for Bremmer’s call for patience, the last several weeks have been full of military experts warning that close quarters urban combat in and beneath Gaza City will diminish Israel’s superiority which is why Israeli leaders are warning that this is a war that will not be over quickly.
Here is a transcript for the November 3 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
11/3/2023
10:21 PM ET
FAREED ZAKARIA: If you have 20 or 30,000 as you say but you are laying siege to a population of 2.2 million, half of whom are children. If the defense minister says no food, no water, no electricity. How are you separating the bad guys from, you know, a million children.
IAN BREMMER: So, the level of anger, the level of trauma is unspeakable that the Israeli leaders are going through. I mean, every day, every evening the air raid sirens that are interrupting every conversation that you have with them, then inbound calls they’re getting from the families of those that have been killed and that are still being held hostage not to mention 360,000 of their young men and women that have been called up-- the reservists that are going to be sent to war. That's 4% of the entire population.
MAHER: Even from America, they had to go back.
BREMMER: Indeed, flying to Israel, right, to actually fight and from all over the world. That’s extraordinary, but the ability of the Israelis is to defend themselves today, their military superiority is great but there's no strategic reason why Israel needs to obliterate Hamas today.
They could actually—they could wait and get humanitarian support but, it's very hard to say that. To me it’s the equivalence of the guy whose daughter is raped and he's going to kill that guy that raped that daughter and you understand why—
MAHER: Well.
BREMMER: -- but at the same time if he goes to jail and he can’t take care of his kids, what’s going to happen going forward? And I worry about the future of Israel given this perfectly justifiable demand for vengeance on the ground.
…
MAHER: It's got to be something about the Jews themselves because there are other people around the world who are oppressed, there are other "colonized" places not that Israel colonized anything, but why this one place, why does this arouse especially among young people – I mean young people who hated to Trump because he wouldn't condemn the people with the Tiki torches, talking about Jews -- you're the one with the Tiki torches now.
ZAKARIA: I think, to answer your question, Bill, because I have wondered about this -- the upsurge of anti-Semitism that you're sitting around the world and a sadly in United States itself is in a way the most powerful justification for the state of Israel, right, it feels, it must feel to Jews everywhere that they are not safe. That the one place they can be safe is the state of Israel. It is the ultimate justification, why it happens is sadly it is the oldest bigotry known to man. I mean it comes out of, you know, the Christian ideas about, you know, Jews killing Christ–
MAHER: That's not what college kids think, college kids are not hating the Jews—
ZAKARIA: No, no, no, but it-- I think, what happens is there's just this, you know, upsurge. You have all kinds of different people doing it for all kinds of different reasons and I think it just reminds you that-- I hear people say we should, you know, ban this kind of speech and there is now laws in France for example-- I don't know that's the answer. I think the answer is to educate people, to understand this is gross, ancient bigotry but civilized people shouldn't believe this kind of thing. That, you know, that’s the part that's most worrying.
