On Friday night, HBO host Bill Maher talked about the Democrats' support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, commonly referred to as the BDS Movement. According to Maher, the Democrats have now created a "bulls**t purity test" when it comes to supporting a boycott against Israel.
"BDS is a bulls**t purity test by people who want to appear woke and have actually slept through history class," Maher said, at which point the audience broke out into a thunderous applause. "It's predicated on this notion that is very shallow thinking, that the Jews are in Israel are mostly white and the Palestinians are browner so they [Palestinians] must be innocent and correct and the Jews must be wrong. As if occupation came out of the blue, that this completely peaceful people found themselves occupied. Forget about the infectadas and the suicide bombings and the rockets and how many wars?"
Maher's comments come after Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was initially denied entry into Israel to visit her dying grandmother. Israeli law prevents people who support the BDS Movement from visiting the country, although humanitarian exceptions are made. Eventually, Israel decided to grant a humanitarian exemption to Tlaib so she could visit her dying grandmother. Of course, Tlaib rejected the opportunity.
When Tlaib received word of Maher's take on the stance, she had one simple solution: those who agree with her – and the BDS Movement – should boycott the liberal commentator's show.
Maybe folks should boycott his show.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 17, 2019
I am tired of folks discrediting a form of speech that is centered on equality and freedom. This is exactly how they tried to discredit & stop the boycott to stand up against the apartheid in S. Africa. It didn't work then and it won't now. https://t.co/Oa49ZVfrVN
Tlaib said her "form of speech" – guess that means boycotting? – is based on "equality and freedom." But it's not. People like Tlaib and those who support the BDS Movement don't even want Israel to exist. These supporters don't want the Jewish people to have a safe haven after all that their people have endured.
This movement isn't about obtaining equality (even though we don't know what that would look like). It's about eliminating Israel altogether. It's about pretending that past history hasn't taken place. And that's unrealistic.