{"id":31248,"date":"2024-01-03T12:58:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=31248"},"modified":"2024-01-03T12:58:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:58:48","slug":"bill-maher-criticizes-palestinians-for-believing-myths-calls-mid-east-christians-peaceful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/01\/bill-maher-criticizes-palestinians-for-believing-myths-calls-mid-east-christians-peaceful.html","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher Criticizes Palestinians For Believing &#8216;Myths,&#8217; Calls Mid-East Christians &#8216;Peaceful&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_31254\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31254\" style=\"width: 781px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/01\/bill-maher-credit-real-time-with-bill-maher-youtube.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31254\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/01\/bill-maher-credit-real-time-with-bill-maher-youtube.png\" alt=\"bill maher\" width=\"781\" height=\"551\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31254\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Real Time with Bill Maher\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>HBO\u2019s \u201cReal Time\u201d host Bill Maher recently criticized Palestinians for believing \u201cmyths\u201d about Israel and defended Christians in the West Bank who have maintained peace as Muslims now predominantly reside in one of believers\u2019 most historically significant locations: Jesus\u2019 birthplace of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n<p>During the \u201cNew Rule\u201d segment of the latest episode of his show, the 67-year-old comedian explained that Palestinians have unrealistic expectations and shouldn\u2019t expect Israel to negotiate with a genocidal group, referring to Hamas, the terrorist organization controlling Gaza. Maher joked, \u201cI know it\u2019s supposed to be that magical time of year, but maybe what we all really need right now is a good dose of realism. I see a lot of Nativity scenes when I\u2019m out, as you always do before Christmas, and I can\u2019t help thinking about where that manger really is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cIt\u2019s in the West Bank, on Palestinian lands controlled by the Palestinian Authority. In 1950, the little town of Bethlehem was 86 percent Christian. Now, it\u2019s overwhelmingly Muslim. And that\u2019s my point tonight: things change. To 2.3 billion Christians, there can be no more sacred site than where their Savior was born, but they don\u2019t have it anymore. And yet, no Crusader army has geared up to take it back. Things change: countries, boundaries, empires. Palestine was under the Ottoman Empire for 400 years. But today, an ottoman is something you put under your feet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KP-CRXROorw?si=8BXEd-c4XHCpC66v\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Maher continued, \u201cThe city of Byzantium became the city of Constantinople became Istanbul. Not everybody liked it, but you can\u2019t keep arguing the call forever. The Irish had the entire island to themselves, but the British were starting an empire and well, the Irish lost their tip. They blew each other up over it for 30 years. But eventually, everybody comes to an accommodation, except the Palestinians.\u201d Maher\u2019s monologue comes as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.faithwire.com\/2023\/12\/14\/alarming-poll-of-palestinians-finds-disturbing-approval-for-hamas-attack-on-israel-rising-support-for-terror-group\/\">a new analysis<\/a>\u00a0from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) found widespread denial of the fact that \u201cHamas has committed atrocities against Israeli civilians,\u201d referring to the terror group\u2019s deadly attack against the Jewish state on Oct. 7. It also revealed an uptick in Hamas\u2019 \u201cpopularity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The PSR data also found support for Hamas among West Bank residents exploded from a mere 12 percent in September, just before the attack against Israel, to 44 percent in this latest survey. Support in Gaza has increased from 38 percent to 42 percent. Additionally, the majority of residents, 72 percent, between Gaza and the West Bank believe Hamas made the \u201ccorrect decision\u201d when it launched its assault on Israel. Broken down geographically, that number rises to 82 percent in the West Bank and falls to 57 percent in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HBO\u2019s \u201cReal Time\u201d host Bill Maher recently criticized Palestinians for believing \u201cmyths\u201d about Israel and defended Christians in the West Bank who have maintained peace as Muslims now predominantly reside in one of believers\u2019 most historically significant locations: Jesus\u2019 birthplace of Bethlehem. During the \u201cNew Rule\u201d segment of the latest episode of his show, the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":31254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,1],"tags":[5331,6087],"class_list":["post-31248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","category-entertainment","category-television","tag-bill-maher","tag-palestine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bill Maher Criticizes Palestinians For Believing &#039;Myths,&#039; Calls Mid-East Christians &#039;Peaceful&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During a recent episode of his show &quot;Real Time,&quot; Bill Maher defended Christians in the West Bank and blasted Palestinians for believing 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