On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher commented on the rise in antisemitic speech in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 by stating that “the young people who hated Trump because he wouldn’t condemn the people with the Tiki torches,” are now “the ones with the Tiki torches now.”
Maher began by saying that there’s a level of “gut-wrenching” antisemitism. And “I must admit, I don’t think of myself as a naive person. And I’ve been surprised, it was like a volcano that blew. Just that people in the United States with banners [saying,] ‘F*ck Israel.’ ‘Any means necessary.’ … I don’t know where this comes from. I guess it’s ancient, obviously, the hatred of the Jews goes way back. But I was taken aback by this.”
He added that “there are other people around the world who are oppressed, there are other ‘colonized’ places — not that Israel colonized anything — but why this one place? Why does this arouse — especially among young people? I mean, the young people who hated Trump because he wouldn’t condemn the people with the Tiki torches, talking about Jews [will not replace us], you’re the ones with the Tiki torches now.”
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