HBO's Bill Maher is a liberal, there’s no doubt about that. But he’s an honest liberal willing to call out those in the media who are getting more extreme by the day. The Real Time host on Friday demolished New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on how progressives attack Israel.
Expecting Kristof to amplify his defense of Israel as a functioning, forward-thinking democracy, the Times writer instead slammed their “war crimes.’ Maher quickly shout him down:
NICHOLAS KRISTOF: I don't think that is a defense for Israel engaging and possible war crimes in Gaza or engaging —
BILL MAHER: Gaza fired 4,000 rockets into Israel, what would you say Israel should have done instead of what they did?
KRISTOF: International lawyers are pretty clear they have a right to defend themselves, they have a right to respond at military targets but there is a sense that the response was probably a war crime because it did not sufficiently avoid civilian casualties.
MAHER: But they purposely put the rockets in civilian places. That’s their strategy.
The HBO host then boxed in his fellow liberal, saying, “What if Canada fired 4,000 rockets into America or Mexico, which is an even better analogy because we actually did steal the land from Mexico -- I would submit that Israel did not steal anybody's land.”
Sneering at progressive, hypocritical liberals, Maher mocked:
As far as Gaza goes, it's amazing to me that the progressives think that they are being progressive by taking that side of it, the [model] Bella Hadids of the world. In February of this year, a Hamas court ruled an unmarried woman cannot travel in Gaza without the permission of the male guardian, that is where the Progressives are? Bella Hadid and her friends would run screaming to Tel Aviv if they had to live in Gaza for one day
A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
Real Time
5/28/2021
10:39BILL MAHER: One of the frustrations I had while I was off as I was watching this war go on in Israel, Israel is the champion of having very quick wars, this one was 11 days but most of them you can count by days, even ones where they were facing whole armies. It was frustrating to me because there was no one on liberal media to defend Israel, really, we become this country now where we are one sided on this issue. I would also like to say off the bat that I don't think kids understand -- when I say kids, I say the younger generations -- you can't learn history from Instagram. [Cheers and applause] There's just not enough space. So I want to go over some of the history but first I read your column on it, evenhanded and brilliant as usual. Let me quote you off the bat. You say “At home, Israel has a robust democracy that gives more rights to Arab citizens and its neighbors do. [Applause] This was after all a war with Gaza. Thank God Israel treats its Arab citizens better than Egypt, Syria, or Saudi Arabia treat their Arab citizens.” Didn't see much of that in the press, I was glad to see you say it, can you put some bones on that, why do you say they treat their citizens better, their Arab citizens?
NICHOLAS KRISTOF: I also said a lot more and clearly within Israel, Arab citizens obviously vote, they can serve in the knesset, they can be judges, some of the most robust organizations speaking upper Palestinians are organizations like the human rights organization -- that does not happen in Egypt, obviously massacres Egyptians who support democracy. We've seen it happen in Syria. I would also say that I made that point for context, I think it's important to understand that Israel at home truly is robust. But I don't think that is a defense for Israel engaging and possible war crimes in Gaza or engaging —
MAHER: Gaza fired 4,000 rockets into Israel, what would you say Israel should have done instead of what they did?
KRISTOF: International lawyers are pretty clear they have a right to defend themselves, they have a right to respond at military targets but there is a sense that the response was probably a war crime because it did not sufficiently avoid civilian casualties.
MAHER: But they purposely put the rockets in civilian places. That’s their strategy.
KRISTOF: Likewise Israel's defense ministry is a civilian area, both sides do this. I think Hamas particularly doesn't and it's a war crime on part of Hamas and clearly Hamas is engaging in war crimes.
MAHER: War is a crime, it seems like a silly argument when people go to war, there are certain things that are beyond the pale but this seems like it was a normal war, people die in war, it's a horrible thing.
KRISTOF: We have developed laws of war precisely to restrain inhumanity of war, we don't allow chemical weapons.
MAHER: I don't know I was to respond -- what if Canada fired 4,000 rockets into America or Mexico which is an even better analogy because we actually did steal the land from Mexico -- I would submit that Israel did not steal anybody's land. This is another thing I've heard of the last couple of weeks, words like "Occupiers" and "Colonizers" and apartheid come I don't think people understand the history there. The Jews have been in that area of the world since about 1200 bc, way before the first Muslim or Arab walked the Earth, a thousand years before. Jerusalem was their capital.
...
MAHER: As far as Gaza goes, it's amazing to me that the progressives think that they are being progressive by taking that side of it, the Bella Hadids of the world. In February of this year, a Hamas court ruled an unmarried woman cannot travel in Gaza without the permission of the male guardian, that is where the Progressives are? Bella Hadid and her friends would run screaming to Tel Aviv if they had to live in Gaza for one day.
