Bill Maher on Palestinians - "People do move on at a certain point."

MakeEmLaugh

Bill Maher, the US talk show host and comedian, discussed the current conflict in Gaza on his show last Friday. He discussed the determination of (some) Palestinians to continue fighting until Israel is destroyed. He then made the following statement.

“Lots of places in the world have had refugees... Look, America stole a lot of what used to be Mexico. But Mexico doesn't set up shop in Tijuana and lob rockets into Los Angeles.

I mean, Germany and Czechoslovakia and Poland after the war... thousands, millions of people went. Indonesia expelled the Chinese. Algerians expelled the French. It happens. It's awful. But people do move on at a certain point. How long do people get before they move on?

It's a fait accompli. Israel is not going away.”

Does he have a point?

wes

No, the man is an idiot, and its not just this that proves that he is an idiot, the fact that he is an anti-vaxer, a group of idiots, who have caused real harm to children, by spreading lies about vaccinations, because he is too stupid to understand those lies to be the utter nonsense that they are.

Secondly, his comparison isn't apt, a better example, would be if the US was still attacking Mexico and taking more of its land, and was also for example putting Mexico city under siege, now that would be an apt comparison. Maher is a well known supporter of Israel, and as per usual for such supporters, they like to pretend that settlement expansion doesn't exist, and that the occupation doesn't exist.

It nice of him to tell people to move on, when there still being occupied, having there land stolen, and being murdered.

Scofflaw

If the US was still taking more of North America, pushing westward, displacing the current inhabitants and ghettoising them while the surrounding countries refused to admit them, making them second class citizens in what used to be their country...hmm...well, you can see why Americans might not have a problem with the whole idea.

Native Americans...they just, you know, moved on. Epitaph of a people.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Frank Bullitt

I like Maher on a lot of what he talks about, but I completely disagree with him on this.

RichardAnd

Maher can, at times, be quite funny. Indeed, I've enjoyed listening to his stand-up or debates in the past.

However, with Maher, you will never get anything objective. His stand-up routines often focus solely on ridiculing Republicans or the Tea Party. What he will rarely do is draw criticism on Obama and the Democrats, both of whom are deeply flawed in their own ways. That's what separates him from truly inspirational comics such as George Carlin or Bill Hicks.

Israel and Zionism are complicated, very complicated. That video represents a very simplified synopsis of the situation.

Incidentally, Israel's victories might have something to do with the weapons they get from states.

tbradman

You lost me at Bill Maher.

Manach

From the history of the region, the Israeli (rightly/wrongly on POV) have defended their claim to the area including Gaza based on history stretching back 1000s of years. Thus Mr Maher should place this in context before venturing an opinion. Which might be a step too far for him .

MiloDublin

This 'move on' comment isn't just a view held by talk show hosts.Condoleezza Rice as Bush2 Secretary of State mused that Palestinians could move to Chile or Argentina

riffmongous

Is there any chance he was being ironic? No one could be stupid enough to say something like that in ignorance of the expulsions of the jews from israel, right?

woodoo

I can't believe the lineup on that panel. Nobody at all forwarding the Palestinian argument. They have such a simple view of the whole problem and the yanks accept it. The rest of us expect a higher standard of debate even if it is only on an entertainment show.

Amazingfun

Early life[edit]
Maher was born in New York City. His father, William Maher, Sr., was a network news editor and radio announcer, and his mother, Julie Maher (née Berman), was a nurse.[7] He was raised in his Irish American father's Catholic religion, unaware that his Hungarian American[8][9][10] mother was Jewish until his early teens.[11][12][13][14]

Perhaps discovering his mother was Jewish has made him a tad biased on this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher

Nodin

Amazingfun wrote: »

Perhaps discovering his mother was Jewish has made him a tad biased on this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher

I'm reasonably sure you can be Jewish and not support Israeli policy.

Amazingfun

Nodin wrote: »

I'm reasonably sure you can be Jewish and not support Israeli policy.

You don't know what he thinks, and neither do I.

However, discovering his mother was Jewish could bias him somewhat regarding the situation and so is a relevant fact.
Many people are unaware he is half Jewish, I was surprised myself when I found out.

MakeEmLaugh

Amazingfun wrote: »

You don't know what he thinks, and neither do I.

However, discovering his mother was Jewish could bias him somewhat regarding the situation and so is a relevant fact.
Many people are unaware he is half Jewish, I was surprised myself when I found out.

He identifies as Irish, though, not Jewish. When Mary Robinson appeared on the show he referred to himself as Irish.

Also, when Simon Schama was on recently and learned that Maher's mother was Jewish, he said...

"Your mother's Jewish? Welcome to the Bagel club. That makes you a whole... the whole thing".

Maher replied with...

"First of all, I was raised Catholic. First of all, I hate all religion.... But also, this idea I've heard all my life. If your mother is Jewish you're Jewish. That's a Roman law. Do we go by other Roman laws? Can I make myself throw up in the sanatorium? I mean, it's ridiculous."

Manach

Given the Roman law is the basis of quite a large section of laws world-wide, perhaps this shows Mr. Maher seems to fail to engage mind with mouth on more than the one occasion.

For Reals

Yeah Bill, like the Holocaust, old news.

Devostator

All Palestinian radio stations have been destroyed, yet we still have Jamie Theakston. WHERE IS THE HUMANITY?