Rashida Tlaib calls on viewers to boycott Bill Maher’s HBO talk show for bashing BDS movement

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is calling on viewers to boycott comedian Bill Maher’s HBO talk show after he called the anti-Israel boycott movement a ‘bulls*** purity test’. 

‘Maybe folks should boycott his show,’ Tlaib tweeted Saturday, referring to HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

‘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,’ she added. 

Tlaib was responding to criticism made by the comedian the night prior where he called the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement ‘a bulls*** purity test by people who want to appear woke but actually slept through history class.’  

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib tweeted Saturday urging people to boycott comedian Bill Maher’s HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher

This came after Maher said the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement ‘is a bulls*** purity test by people who want to appear woke’

Maher said on his show Friday of the movement: ‘It’s predicated on this notion, I think it’s very shallow thinking – that the Jews in Israel, mostly white, and the Palestinians are browner, 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. Forget about the intifadas and the suicide bombings and the rockets.’ 

This comes just days after Tlaib, along with her fellow Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar, were banned from entering Israel for a planned visit due to their vocal support of Palestinians and the BDS movement.

The two women were scheduled to visit Israel and the occupied territories as guests of a Palestinian lawmaker this weekend.   

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday that the lawmakers – the first Muslim women elected to Congress – would not be granted entry because they could ‘hurt’ Israel.

Netanyahu’s announcement came just an hour after President Donald Trump tweeted his objection to the visit.

‘It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit,’ the president said. ‘They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds.’ 

Trump later labeled the congresswomen ‘anti-Israel’ and ‘anti-Jewish’. 

Maher’s comments came after both Tlaib and Omar were barred from entering Israel for their views – which Trump calls ‘anti-Jewish’

About an hour after this tweet by President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tlaib and Omar would be barred from entering Israel  

Maher also referenced the women’s staunch critiques of Israel. 

‘Congresswoman Omar has said things like, ”It’s all about the Benjamins,” ”Israel has hypnotized the world,” ”May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel,”’ Maher said.

‘She apologized for it, but it’s out there: Jews control the world, control the money,’ he said.

‘I can see why they don’t get a hero’s welcome.’

But despite the withdrawn invitation, on Friday the Israeli government reversed the decision, saying it would let Tlaib visit her family in the West Bank on humanitarian grounds. 

But the congresswoman rejected the offer, saying that Israel had imposed restrictions meant to humiliate her, by making her vow not advocate boycotts during her visit.   

‘Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart,’ Tlaib said in a statement. ‘Silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice.’