Bill Maher shoots down comedian's claim that the right is behind today's anti-Semitism

The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel reverberated throughout the West. Whereas many came out to mourn the dead and condemn the terrorists responsible, anti-Semites alternatively came out of the woodwork to condemn Israel and celebrate Hamas.

FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that anti-Semitism in the United States was nearing "historic levels" as student radicals endorsed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas began massing on college campuses and taking to the streets, chanting genocidal slogans and parroting anti-Israeli talking points.

Republican lawmakers uniformly condemned the attacks and the anti-Semitism that followed. While some Democrats sided with Israel and the Jewish people against terrorists, leftists such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and her fellow travelers in the Democratic Party joined the chorus of pro-Hamas protesters calling for Israel's ruin.

Having observed this much, Bill Maher was unwilling to accept the argument on the Sunday episode of his "Club Random" podcast that the anti-Semitism now on full display is a product of the American right.

Late in their relatively innocuous conversation about relationships, family, and comedy, Sandra Bernhard, a comedian and Democratic booster, told Maher that her Jewish forebears migrated to the U.S. after fleeing a Russian pogrom.

"Do you feel that flowing through your veins?" asked Maher.

"Yup," said Bernhard. "But I'll tell you something: I am not — you know, everybody's like up in arms now about being Jewish. Suddenly everybody's discovered their Judaism. It's like, I grew up Jewish. I was bat mitzvahed. I went to Hebrew school. I did the whole thing. You know, I like being Jewish."

"Everybody's suddenly like, 'I'm Jewish and I'm being persec —.' I don't feel persecuted," said Bernhard.

"Well, not persecuted perhaps, but there is an anti-Semitism afoot in this country that we haven't had in a very long time," said Maher. "And I never thought I'd see the day."

'It comes from the right wing.'

"I'll tell you where it comes from," said Bernhard. "It comes from the right wing. The right — the extreme."

"No, it doesn't," said Maher without missing a beat.

"You think it's [the] left?" asked Bernhard.

"There's anti-Semitism on both sides," said Maher. "The left wing is even worse. ... That is coming down from elite colleges who see everything only through a racial lens. They are stupid. They don't know history. They think everything is about colonizers and racists and how awful America is."

'None of this jives with the facts.'

Maher appeared keen to extend an olive branch to radicals, saying, "And America has done some bad things. But to drag Israel into this as the stand-in for every bad thing white people ever did — this is not any more complicated to most of these college kids than the Palestinians are brown and poor and the Israelis are rich and white, even though half of them are not rich and certainly not white."

"So they think they're rich and white so they're the colonizers and the apartheid people and the genocide people. None of this jives with the facts," added the host.

Bernhard said, "But can we get on the same page and agree that Benjamin Netanyahu is a s*** disturber and needs to be yanked out of Israel? He is not good for Israel. He is not good for Jews. He has also contributed to the global mistrust. ... He is solidly to blame for everything that is happening right now."

"He is so not to blame for everything that's happening," Maher fired back. "That's the fault of the Palestinian people and the religion of Islam, which gets lost in all of this. I mean, we are fighting."

"What?" interjected Bernhard.

'Mostly to blame is Hamas.'

"Islam," responded Maher. "You've heard of it?"

"How is that? What does that have to do with —?" asked Bernhard.

"You said Netanyahu was mostly to blame. Mostly to blame is Hamas," added Maher.

The host proceeded to suggest that the current predicament is the result of the terrorist group using foreign aid money over the course of years to buy bombs and make tunnels rather than feed the hungry and build adequate health care facilities.

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