Uploaded by Real Time with Bill Maher
In less than six-years time the American Left is engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle like never before. Compassion towards both Israeli’s and Palestinian’s has always been shown, but given the many years since the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement was launched targeting Israel’s occupation of Palestine on America’s campuses, it appears to have galvanized younger lefties to speak and behave in ways that for many conjure up the very hatred they stood against during the ‘Tiki torch’ parade on the University of Virginia’s campus in 2017.
Maher makes an honest attempt to address his concerns.
Bill Maher: What do you make of this level of just gut wrenching just anti-Semitism? I must admit I don’t think of myself as a naive person. And I’ve been surprised. It was like a volcano that blew. I mean, just the people in the United States with banners ‘F*** Israel’ you know, ‘Any Means necessary.’
Ian Bremmer: You can’t tell me you don’t think social media has made it much worse.
Maher: So you think that’s the answer because 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 Trump because he wouldn’t condemn the people with the tiki torches talking about Jews rule. You’re the ones with the tiki torches.
Fareed Zakaria: To answer your question,
Bill, because I have also wondered about this. The upsurge of anti-Semitism that you’re seeing around the world, and sadly, in the United States itself, is in a way the most powerful justification for the state of Israel. Right?
Maher: But that’s not what college kids think. College kids are not hating….
Zakaria: But I think what happens is there’s just this upsurge. You have all kinds of different people doing it for all kinds of different reasons. And I think it just reminds you …I hear people saying, well, we should ban this kind of speech and there is now laws in France, for example. I don’t know that that’s the answer. I think the answer is to educate people to understand this is gross ancient bigotry, that civilized people shouldn’t believe this kind of thing. That’s the part that’s most worrying…