Maher: Israel's Qatar Strike Is Just Doing What U.S. Does, No One Objects To

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher defended Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar and said that going after terrorists wherever they are isn’t any different from America’s foreign policy doctrine that no one objects to.

Maher said, “I think it was fine.”

He added, “This war, which has now been going on for almost a couple of years, I wish they would wrap it up, I don’t know what’s left to bomb, but I’m not in the IDF. Maybe it’s overkill. But Coleman Hughes made a great point, he said, maybe it was overkill when the North burned Atlanta to the degree they did, but you still wouldn’t say that the North was on the wrong side of the war.”

Maher continued, “Okay, having said that, it’s also been a war on hypocrisy. Israel just had it with people being able to get away with things only they were not able to get away with, and they just said, you know what, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, you can’t hide anymore, anywhere. And Hamas was being ordered and run from luxury apartments. … And Israel said, we’re not going to put up with this anymore, you are not safe anywhere. And as this was the anniversary of 9/11 yesterday, I thought it was very apropos to mention that, after 9/11, George Bush said, his doctrine was, we will make no distinction between the terrorists and the people who harbor them. I don’t remember anybody objecting to that, so why would anybody object to this?”

The Atlantic Staff Writer Tim Alberta stated that an objection people could make is that this doctrine didn’t work out well for George W. Bush. Maher acknowledged that, but countered that Israel didn’t invade Qatar or occupy it.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett