Bill Maher and his guest Benjamin Netanyahu prompted some enthusiastic applause from the audience on October 14, as the comedian asked if Israel would “retaliate” against Kanye West for his recent "anti-Semitic" Twitter rant.
As the former Israeli prime minister, indicted on corruption charges which he denies, appeared on HBO’s “Real Time” on Friday night, Maher asked him:
“My first question, Kanye West this week has said ‘I’m a bit sleepy tonight, but when I wake up, I’m going death con 3 on Jewish people’… Will Israel retaliate?”
Laughing in response, Netanyahu, beaming in from Tel Aviv, said:
“You know, anti-Semitism is the longest hatred in history. It goes back thousands of years. We’ve dealt with bigger problems than these stupidities. But, you know, the communists blame the Jews for being capitalist, the capitalists blame the Jews for being communists. Do you have a problem? Blame the Jews.”
He added that it was “old stuff” that “shouldn’t have any place in civilized discourse.”
According to Netanyahu, that was the reason why the Jewish state was established:
“So the Jewish people would have defense against these absurdities, and sometimes they’re coupled with violence. We don’t let that happen again,” he said.
Earlier, Kanye "Ye" West had one of his tweets taken down by the social media platform on the same day that Meta* confirmed his Instagram* account had been restricted for violating the platform’s policies.
In the tweet, posted on October 8, the 45-year-old rapper and fashion mogul wrote that he was going to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” This was an apparent reference to the United States’ military defense readiness condition, known as DEFCON. There are five levels that indicate the intensity of a national security threat, with 5 being the lowest, and 1 the highest.
The rapper went on to defend his anti-Semitic tweet by claiming that he could not be against Jews because he is black.
Earlier, the musician had his Instagram account restricted after he posted a message - which has since been deleted - about an alleged exchange between him and Sean "Diddy" Combs, in which users lambasted the rapper for using language that seemed anti-Semitic.
Still earlier, the billionaire musician triggered backlash in the wake of a controversial show during Paris Fashion Week. Kanye West showcased an “Yeezy” T-shirt with the slogan "White Lives Matter." The Anti-Defamation League denounced the phrase, which reframes the Black Lives Matter phrase, as a hate statement.
*Meta (Facebook, Instagram) is banned in Russia as an extremist organization.