Bill Maher responded to Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) call to boycott his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” criticizing Tlaib for resorting to her only “one move.”
On Aug. 16, Maher said that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is “a bulls— purity test.” Tlaib tweeted the following day, “Maybe folks should boycott his show. 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 [South] Africa. It didn’t work then and it won’t now.”
Maher responded in an Aug. 21 tweet, “Some people have one move only: boycott. Cancel. Make-go-away. But here’s the thing, the house voted 318 to 17 to condemn the #BDS movement, including 93% of Dems. Does Tlaib want to boycott 93% of her own party?”
Maher later followed up: “Hey I got my number of rep.s who voted to condemn BDS wrong – it’s actually even more, not 318, it’s 398.”
Some people have one move only: boycott. Cancel. Make-go-away. But here’s the thing, the house voted 318 to 17 to condemn the #BDS movement, including 93% of Dems. Does Tlaib want to boycott 93% of her own party? pic.twitter.com/0QrPQmwwiw
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 21, 2019
Hey I got my number of rep.s who voted to condemn BDS wrong – it’s actually even more, not 318, it’s 398
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 21, 2019
Maher also said during his Aug. 16 show that BDS supporters routinely criticize Israel but fail to acknowledge “the Intifadas and the suicide bombings and the rockets.” He also pointed out that BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti has openly stated that no “rational Palestinian” would “ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
“Somehow this side never gets presented in the media,” Maher said.
