Bill Maher criticized the Democrats who support a boycott of Israel, calling it a “bullshit purity test.”
The liberal HBO host said Friday that the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel “is a bullshit purity test by people who want to appear woke but actually slept through history class.”
“It’s predicated on this notion — it’s very shallow thinking — that the Jews are, in Israel, mostly white and the Palestinians are brown. So they must be innocent and correct, and the Jews must be wrong. As if the occupation came right out of the blue, that this completely peaceful people found themselves occupied,” he said.
Maher’s comments stem from Israel barring Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, from entering the country over their support for the boycott movement and amid pressure from President Trump to block them from visiting. The two were scheduled to visit Israel this weekend.
The Israeli government later said it would allow Tlaib to visit her grandmother in the West Bank if she did not promote the movement. Tlaib said she would not make the trip because she could not abide by the “oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me.”
The Democratic-led House passed a resolution in July opposing the movement. Sixteen Democrats, a majority of whom are progressives, opposed the legislation.
