Bill Maher defies most celebrities who straddle the fence and really say nothing when they “speak out” about the Israel-Hamas war … he has a very strong POV, which involves a heavy dose of reality and reasonable negotiation.
The ‘Real Time’ host took his audience all the way back to Bethlehem, which is now controlled by the Palestinians. It used to be 86% Christian … now it’s overwhelmingly Muslim. Things change, BM says.
He goes through a litany of countries that became other countries under different control … things change. A good example is 30 years of carnage in Northern Ireland, which essentially ended with both sides acknowledging a land shift. Things change.
His overarching point … Israel is going nowhere — it’s staying put, and the chants of “from the river to the sea” he says are pipe dreams not rooted in reality.
Bill seems pretty clear — negotiating an end to the war without acknowledgment you can’t turn the clock back decades is not only unrealistic — it cuts both ways. So Bill’s saying if Hamas doesn’t get real and acknowledge there’s no negotiation that involves the elimination of Israel, then they’re becoming the modern-day Northern Ireland.
Not everyone’s gonna agree, for sure, but that’s his POV.