'Enough': Bill Maher berates Obama for 'moral equivalency' between Hamas and Israel

Bill Maher lectured former President Barack Obama for his recent comments about the Israel-Hamas war. On Friday, the liberal talk show host berated the former Democrat president for making a "moral equivalency" between Hamas and Israel.

Maher's takedown of Obama stems from comments the former president made during the "Pod Save America" podcast hosted by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor.

"What Hamas did was horrific, and there is no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation, and what’s happening to Palestinians, is unbearable," Obama said on the liberal podcast. "If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth. And then you have to admit nobody's hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree."

During the "Real Time with Bill Maher" panel discussion with psychologist, author Jordan Peterson and New York Times columnist Pamela Paul, Maher skewered Obama for his comments on Israel and Hamas.

"I must say I am struggling with people's moral equivalency still," Maher began.

"I mean, Barack Obama, who has rarely disappointed me, did so this week. I mean, his statement – I mean it's not a horrible statement – but he said, 'If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth and then you have to admit nobody's hands are clean.'

"Literally that's true, of course. But just giving two examples where this is I don't think a helpful statement at this moment," Maher continued. "First of all, the attack was only a month ago. A more savage attack than we've ever seen in reverse. There's a big difference between collateral damage and what Hamas did."

"Secondly, the Israelis are now on the four-hour pause for people to get out," he added. "So people say, 'Oh, wow, how big of them.’ Ok, but it is a war that the other side started! It's so interesting. When they fired [at] Israel – it's a war. When Israel fires back – it's a war crime. Little crazy. And also, would Hamas do that? Would they give four-hour pauses? No, no pausing."

"And then Israel's heritage minister was asked in an interview about using a nuke on Gaza. And he said, 'That's one of the possibilities.' He was fired, not allowed in the cabinet meeting anymore, disavowed by the prime minister. Would that happen in reverse? So enough with the moral equivalencies, please."

Maher later said that people were forgetting the "Islamic fanaticism" part of Hamas "because you're not supposed to talk about that anymore because if you do, even how realistic it is, it becomes Islamophobic."

He declared, "But it's true! The people in Hamas who kill their own people think they're doing them a favor because they're becoming martyrs. That's a different kind of situation to have to deal with that Israel has that most people don't."

Maher blasted over 750 journalists who recently signed an open letter that condemns Israel's "killing of journalists in Gaza." The letter also calls for media outlets to utilize terms like "apartheid" and "genocide" in their reporting to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

"They couldn't be more pro-Hamas," Maher said of the journalists. "They say they want the newsroom to adopt words such as ‘apartheid.’ I hear it all the time anyway, It's wrong. And I hear ‘genocide.’ Again, wrong. Israel is not trying to commit genocide. The other side is blatantly saying we would love to commit genocide on you."

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